Mystic Falls Redux
by nekilarose
Summary: Bonnie dies in her sleep one night. The Bennett line comes together to give her a chance at a normal life...in a parallel universe.
1. Chapter 1

When Bonnie Sheila Bennett died, really and truly died, it was unexpected.

Between stopping hellfire from burning through Mystic Falls, breaking the link between herself and Elena, the Bennett witch had had one helluva night. So it came as no surprise that when she finally made it back home, sleep was the only thing on her mind. After drawing herself a bath to soothe her aching body, Bonnie was ready to put the entire day behind her.

Her head had barely hit the pillow before she slipped away into dreamland….and found herself sitting on a porch swing overlooking a field of what Bonnie guessed was lavender.

"Hello child." The voice was one that always brought comfort to Bonnie. Her head snapped to the left to see her grandmother. Dressed in a peasant shirt and a loose flowy skirt, while her hair was dancing in the slight breeze, Sheila Bennett radiated peace and calm. She opened her arms and engulfed Bonnie in a tight hug. Tears welled in Bonnie's eyes, no matter how much time passed, she didn't think she'd ever get used to the fact that her Grams was dead. Towards the end of his life her father had tried to make up for his constant absence, and her mother showing up to help her deal with her grief over losing Enzo was touching, but her grandmother had been her rock.

"Do you have any idea how proud of you I am?" Sheila pulled back to cup Bonnies face lovingly. "Because I am. I am so very proud of you. You have grown into such a beautiful, compassionate, and strong woman, and I am so glad I get to call myself your grandmother." Bonnie blushed and lowered her eyes. But Sheila wouldn't be deterred. "You have far exceeded all of our expectations as a Bennett, even though I know I didn't do you any favors by keeping you in the dark."

Bonnie started to protest, but was cut off, "hush child, let me say this. I should have to you about your heritage, and I should have made sure you were learning magic the right way. Maybe if I had prepared you for what could happen, we wouldn't be here right now."

"Grams, its okay, we won." Bonnie cut in, "The gate to hell is closed, the hellfire is contained, I even figured out how to undo the spell that linked me and Elena." At this, her grandmother's face fell and Bonnie regarded her with confusion. "That is good, right?"

"Baby, you didn't break the link."

"What are you talking about? Elena is awake, I know she is. I spoke to her, I SAW her reunite with Damon and Jeremy. I'd understand if it were only Jeremy, because of his ability to see ghosts, but Damon is a vampire, he doesn't have that ability. She's not dead." Bonnie argued.

"I'm not saying she's dead, she's awake and has the rest of her life ahead of her. I'm saying the reason she's up is not because you broke the link." Grams explained gently.

Bonnie shot up off the swing, "So what are you saying? Because we were told the only way she'd wake up is if I were dead, and I'm not dead."

"Child…" Her grandmother got up from the swing and tried to take Bonnie's hand, but she snatched her hand back and snapped, "I've become kind of an expert on dying, so I think I'd know if I died." Bonnie paced the length of the porch going over everything in her mind.

"Bonnie…"

"NO!" Bonnie yelled. "No! This is not happening, I did everything right this time. I drew from the entire Bennett line to stop the hellfire. I didn't even feel that tired when it was all said and done, all I had was a damn nosebleed."

Sheila's heart broke watching her granddaughter break down. While the elder witch knew there was a solution to this predicament, it would still require Bonnie to accept it. Bonnie collapsed to her knees, crying, "I can't….not again…IT'S NOT FAIR!" The last part was screamed to the sky.

Sheila gathered her sobbing granddaughter in her arms and rocked her back and forth. Neither woman knew how long they stayed locked in each other's embrace. Eventually Bonnie cried herself out and just lay limply in her grandmothers arms. Sheila thought Bonnie had fallen asleep when the girl started chuckling, first softly then progressing to full maniacal laughter.

"What are you laughing at, child?" This was a response Sheila hadn't been prepared for. Bonnie collected herself before saying breathlessly "I guess I'm more like you than I thought." At Sheila's questioning face, Bonnie elaborated, "Both of us passing in our sleep." Her grandmother gave a little hum before resuming rocking back and forth.

For a while, neither spoke, each caught up in their own thoughts. Bonnie finally pulled away to face her grandmother, "So what happens now? Is this why you're here? To escort me to-" She waved her hand airily, "wherever we go now that I destroyed the Other side, and there aren't any more prison worlds to fling me into." At this, Bonnie side-eyed her grandmother, "there aren't any more prison worlds, right?"

Sheila let out an inelegant snort, "No, at least none that I had a part in making. There may have been some, but with the Gemini wiped out, that knowledge died with them."

"Thank God." Bonnie relaxed a bit.

"But you do have a choice to make." Sheila took both of Bonnie's hands in hers. "You deserved so much more in your short time here on this earth. You should have had the chance to grow old, get married, and make some great grandbabies for me to visit. But you never got that chance, partly due to my shortsightedness. So we want to give you another chance."

Bonnie yanked her hands back, "I thought you said there were no more prison worlds? I'm not risking getting stuck somewhere else just to-" Bonnie broke off, "wait, who's we?"

"Hello Bonnie." Bonnie turned around to see Emily Bennett standing" next to the porch swing.

"Emily?" The witch who once possessed her body just smiled and slid her eyes to the right. Bonnie followed her gaze, where once there had been an empty expansive field, now was dotted with women of all ages. Bonnie recognized Qestsiyah as well as her cousin Lucy.

"Okay, I'm guessing you're all Bennett witches, but what is going on?" Bonnie hated feeling like she was the last one in the know. One woman in particular stepped forward, in her hands was a very innately carved wooden box. Sheila moved to aid her climb up the last few steps. Once she was settled into the swing, she placed the box next to her. Sheila gestured for Bonnie to come closer. "Bonnie, this is my great grandmother Ms. Pearlie Mae." Bonnie was unsure of how to address the woman, so she stuck to the manners that grams had drilled into her from birth. "Nice to meet you ma'am."

At that, the woman let out a joyous laugh, and reached out to pat Bonnie's cheek. "None of that, my child, we're all family here. I'm simply grand-mere." She tugged Bonnie down to sit next to her on the swing, keeping the wooden box between them. "You haven't had the easiest time here, have you baby?"

Bonnie almost snorted, that was an understatement.

There was a gleam in Pearlie Mae's eyes as she leaned over, "How would you like another chance?"

"Another chance? What, like, reincarnation?" Bonnie's mind raced with possibilities. Just how powerful was her line if they could manipulate nature like that?

Although….. if were possible, she could come back as the next Beyonce! Bonnie shook her head to forcibly clear her thoughts, silently admonishing herself, this was no time for fantasies.

Pearlie Mae shook her head. "No not reincarnation. I'm talking about a new life…..in a new world." At Bonnie's skeptical look, the elder witch picked up the wooden box. "Our bloodline is known for making many magical objects, this is one of them. When I started building this, I was looking for a way to get my family to safety." She gazed at the box wistfully while running her fingers over the polished wood. "I never got a chance to finish it, though. When they came for me, I gave it to my eldest to complete it. I wanted them to find a world that would treat them….us…. kinder. Understandably staying alive and providing for the family came first, so it was lost to time."

"Until my mother found it" Lucy spoke up. "Just chilling in some random wiccan store. They never could get it open, so they kept it as a decorative piece. I walked in, and it just sang to me, know what I mean?" Bonnie nodded. "How much were they selling it for?" She asked curiously. Lucy rolled her eyes, "When they saw that my mother was interested in buying it, all of a sudden it was so special to them, and they kept increasing the price. I walked in one night and took it." Lucy bristled at the looks she received from a few witches. "What? It's ours, it belongs to the Bennett line, I was just bringing it back to where it belonged!"

"Okay, but this isn't the 'real world'" Bonnie stressed the last two words. "So how'd you get it over here?"

"I made it, it responds to my call." Pearlie Mae answered simply. "Never has the Bennett line been so decimated that I felt compelled to use it. We recognize that we put an enormous amount of pressure on you to toe the Bennett witch line, and you've far exceeded our expectations. But that pressure will not lessen, controlling hellfire is not something most witches are capable of. Once what happens here is known, people will come to test you. The fact that you are now officially the last Bennett that stems from this particular line makes you and everyone you love a target. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life constantly on guard? There is so much more to life than being a witch and setting aside your happiness for others. We've watched you for years put everyone's feelings and safety above your own. Are your shoulders not tired from all that strain?"

Here she took a deep breath, "This line was always destined to end, honey. It was foretold by many a seer, we just didn't know when. It was decided by all of us that the time would be now. There are other Bennetts, yes, but they are mostly mundanes living ordinary lives. Whatever magical abilities they possess is not enough to register, they will be free to live as they have always done."

"What's the catch?" Bonnie asked warily. "Because if there's one thing that I know, is that magic requires a balance. You can't do this without some major blowback." Bonnie had been let down by her ancestors before, no way would she just outright agree without know all the details. Pearlie Mae nodded in approval, "Smart of you not immediately agree." She paused to gather her thoughts.

Sheila stepped forward ,"Two things. One, we are powerful yes, but creating a whole new world, and having it function like the world you left behind is extremely difficult. The Gemini were the experts on that particular ability, and still needed help from the Bennetts as well a celestial event to create theirs. But that was just a shell of a world. Nothing aged, death was meaningless, it really was just an elaborate holding cell."

Bonnie was confused, "Okay so it's not reincarnation, it's not another witch made world. What, am I just gonna switch places with another me in a parallel universe?" She had meant it as a joke, but from the looks on everybody's face, she had guessed right.

"No!" I'm not gonna hijack some other Bonnie, just so you can ease your guilty conscious! Grams, how can you even suggest that?" Bonnie was horrified at the thought.

"She's dying." Qetsiyah snapped. Bonnie side-eyed the other woman, knowing her penchant for being dramatic and telling half-truths.

"Don't believe me, huh?" She briefly stared out in the open field nodding her head slowly, "Yeah, I guess I had that coming. Whatever, believe me or don't, but your counterpart is a piece of work. I mean, I thought I held the monopoly on crazy things people did for love." Qetsiyah started giggling to herself.

'Okay, crazy witch is still crazy' Bonnie thought to herself before redirecting her attention back to her grandmother. "I don't understand, if she's that close to dying, why not intervene and save her? Is it because she's in a different universe?"

"That's the second thing, the world she's in has no magic. You won't be a Bennett Witch, you'll be just Bonnie again." Her grandmother revealed.

The statement was like a body blow. Bonnie had just gotten to the point where her magic didn't overwhelm her, she was finally starting to become comfortable with it, and now they want to take it away again?

But what was the alternative? She was dead. There was no more Other Side, no more Prison Worlds to get tossed into. It seemed as if she was finally out of second chances. Was she really ready to throw in the towel?

Snippets of her life prior to vampires arriving to town flashed before her eyes. Cheerleading and slumber parties with Caroline and Elena. Spending summers lifeguarding with Matt. Listening to old Motown records with her father back before he left every week. Gardening with her grandmother, while only half listening to her inebriated rambling. Bonnie realized she wanted more of that life. She wanted to only worry about being late for work, instead of being too late with a spell. She wanted dark circles under her eyes due to staying out all night clubbing, not staying up all night reading grimoires because another big bad waltzed into town. She wanted to fall in love, get married, and possibly have a kid or two. Lastly, she wanted to grow old, she wanted to look in the mirror and be horrified by the gray hair that seemed to have popped up overnight.

Opening her eyes, she looked at her grandmother and said her last words as Bonnie Sheila Bennett. "Yes."

* * *

When Bonnie Elise Bennett-Hopkins died, it wasn't exactly a shock to anyone.

Perhaps it was because for the last week, her health had been steadily declining. The doctors couldn't figure it out, while the nurses whispered amongst themselves that the poor girl was simply giving up. There wasn't a person in Mystic Falls who was unaware of the circumstances that may have led to the young womans accident.

Currently her grandmother was sitting vigil next to her bed. Sheila Bennett-Brand had been to the hospital every day just to spend time with her granddaughter. People passing by could hear her talking softly, sometimes singing, but always talking. When asked why she simply answered, "she needs to hear the voices of those that love her. It will be the light to guide her back to us." Although Sheila was known around town for being a bit kooky, no one would ever deny that she loved her granddaughter. Sometimes she brought in homemade salves and would be seen massaging the concoctions onto Bonnie's non-responding arms and legs.

On the fateful day, Sheila had been in her usual spot when the machines suddenly started going crazy before emitting that noise that she had been dreading. Doctor Logan Fell and a few nurses rushed in, pushing her towards the back of the room. She stood in the corner silently praying to whoever would listen to spare her grandbaby. But it seemed like nobody was listening because, the doctor eventually put a halt to all lifesaving procedures.

Sheila collapsed in a heap, her grandbaby was gone. She could vaguely hear the doctor call time of death. All she could focus on was the fact that she would never hear her granddaughters laugh, or see her smile ever again. Sheila wanted to lay down next to Bonnie and never wake up.

Logan walked over to try and console the distraught woman. He knew Sheila had had issues with her heart in the past, and was worried about her having a heart attack. He didn't need to lose two members of a family in one day.

He had just reached out to help her up when the lights flickered once, twice, then went out completely. There was a rumble of thunder before all the lights came on again. The heart monitor that had yet to be disconnected from Bonnie's body started beeping erratically. "Can someone please disconnect that?" He tossed over his shoulder, not wanting to step away from Sheila. Mystic Falls was a small town, and he'd known her all his life.

The sudden silence that came from the disconnecting of the heart monitor seemed to be louder than the monitor itself. Until a gasping breath came from the bed. Everyone in the room froze for a second before jumping into action.

"Is there a heartbeat?"

"Reattach the monitor!"

"Get that crash cart out the way."

"I have a pulse!"

Right as the doctor was leaning over to check if Bonnies pupils would respond to light, her eyes shot open and she gasped again.

"Oh my God." One of the nurses made the sign of the cross.

"Bonnie can you hear me?" Logan asked. Bonnie continued to take deeps gasping breaths as if she had just run a marathon. He reached a hand out to try and get her to calm down, but that just seemed to aggravate her more. She batted his hand away and tried to scramble out of his reach, but spending a month in a coma had weakened her muscles considerably.

"Bonnie, I need you to calm down. You've been in a coma for the past month, I don't want you wearing yourself out." Logan tried to soothe her, but the words seemed to fall on deaf ears as she continued to struggle, all the while gasping for breath.

"She's going to hyperventilate, give me a sedative." After the sedative started to take effect, and Bonnie had seemingly nodded off the staff tried to figure out what exactly happened. Sheila moved from her place in the corner to creep closer to the bed. "Thank you Jesus for sparing my Bonnie." She reached out to smooth a lock of Bonnies hair when her eyes popped back open. It took a bit for her to focus, but when she did, she gave a tiny smile and breathed out "I missed you Grams" before fully succumbing to sleep.

"Me too baby." Sheila choked out before bursting into tears.

* * *

A/N: This came about because of a post I read by kingcobrakai1972, which basically states that it seems as if canon Bonnie and Kai were never meant to be together, but are inexplicably drawn together. And how in another life, they'd probably (most definitely) be drawn together again. I happened to be doing a rewatch of Eureka at the time. If you've never seen it, some of the main cast gets sent back to the 50's,they make it back to the present, but there are changes. Which put a little plot bunny in my head. What would Bonnie's life be like if she wasn't a witch? How would her relationships change? And would Kai and her have a fighting chance?


	2. A New World

-Six months later

"Cause if you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it  
If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it  
Don't be mad once you see that he want it  
If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it  
Oh, oh, oh  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh"

Bonnie stared in disbelief as Tyler managed to not only lip sync the words, but accurately mimic the dance steps to the song currently blaring from the jukebox.

"I am so not drunk enough for this." Bonnie made her way to the bar, hoping to flag down Liv or Matt for a refill. She was trying to decide if she wanted to stick with her normal amaretto sour, or try one of the fruity cocktail drinks that Caroline and Rebekah had been throwing back all night when she felt someone sidle up next to her.

"Well, well, well if it isn't little Bonnie Hopkins. Although not so little anymore, damn girl, being in a coma did your body good." It wasn't often that Bonnie wished she still had her magic, but moments like this, she desperately missed it. A quick jolt would have been enough to drive the drunken asshole away from her.

"Go away, Ben." She didn't even bother turning around.

"Oh come on, I bet you have a lot of pent up energy that you need to get rid of. We all know you haven't had any since Damon-" Ben made a choking sound as he was abruptly cut off. Bonnie turned to see him being held in what looked like a painful grip.

"He bothering you, Bon? Her savior asked, easily restraining the other man as if it were nothing at all. Then again, as the former captain of the wrestling team, it probably didn't faze him one bit.

"I'm good, Mason. Ben was just leaving, right?" Bonnie arched a brow, willing him to take the out that she offered. "Yeah, yeah. I was just leaving." Mason leaned down to whisper angrily in his ear before letting Ben go.

"You didn't have to do that, I can handle idiots like that." Bonnie had never spent any considerable time around Mason before (with the exception of the whole incapacitating and mind-reading in the other world) she had always just thought of him as Tyler's hot uncle. But apparently in this world, they were friends?

"I know you can, lil bitty." Bonnie scowled, apparently they were friendly enough that he gave her counterpart a nickname. He just flashed his lady-killer grin and gestured towards the bar, "Whatcha drinking?" Bonnie turned back to the bar, "Dunno, I was thinking of trying one of the night's specialty drinks. That is if anyone notices I'm standing here." Mason flagged down a bartender and placed their order.

"Unbelievable." Bonnie muttered. Mason laughed, "They probably didn't see you. You are kind of a munchkin."

"I got your munchkin, Lockwood."

Mason opened his mouth to reply when his gaze shifted a few inches to the left, right over Bonnie's shoulder. "Oh shit, incoming. Gotta go, enjoy the drinks, Bon!" He called out as he grabbed his drink and sped off. Bonnie snickered into her drink. Mason wanting to beat a hasty retreat only happens with one person in particular. "Hey, Kat."

"Oh no, did Mr. Alpha Wolf have to go?" The question dripped with faux innocence. Bonnie couldn't hold back her snort this time. Mason and Katherine apparently had a friends with benefits arrangement going on for some time. When Katherine broke it off to pursue one Elijah Mikealson, Mason made the grave mistake of not deleting the racy pictures and texts that he had accumulated during their "arrangement" needless to say some of the pictures got out, and Mason wasn't in a hurry to try and rectify his mistake.

But unbeknownst to him, he wasn't the only one with pictures and texts to share. Soon all of Mystic Falls (Bonnie honestly wouldn't be surprised if the whole state of Virginia didn't know) were informed that Mason Lockwood, brother of Mayor Richard Lockwood, not only liked to be called Alpha during sex, he also had a studded collar with that moniker engraved on it.

There was never so much as a whisper about Kat's pictures ever again.

"Katerina." Elijah sighed. It was half exasperation, half amusement.

"Yes Elijah?" Katherine purred, running her hands up his chest to clasp behind his neck, clearly enjoying his discomfort. Bonnie sipped her drink while unabashedly watching the duo. It seemed that no matter what world she was in, Elijah and his fondness for Katherine was a constant. It was nice to see it was reciprocated equally here too. Bonnie had always thought she and Elijah were a lot alike, just on opposite sides. Spending time with him in this world proved her intuition correct.

After she "woke up" in the hospital, and transitioned to home care, she had a stream of visitors. They all brought something to cheer her up. Elijah was very generous with his rare book collection. On one occasion, Bonnie slipped and was so engrossed in her reading, not even registering that the book had transitioned into Latin. She was unaware that Elijah was watching her read as if she had no problem understanding the language. When he casually mentioned it, Bonnie felt her heart start to pound, but forced herself to calm down. There was no way she'd be outed just because someone found out she could read Latin! Luckily, he seemed to attribute it to the "girl dumbing herself down to not stand out" cliché. Every now and then he'll casually switch into Latin just to keep her on her toes.

"Oh please, can you two behave? I'm sure Bonnie doesn't want to see that. Do you, love?" Klaus, er, Nik, was one of the biggest surprises. He had apparently designated himself as her big brother. Bonnie was sure there was something else under the surface that she was missing, but she just relished that he wasn't trying to kill her every five minutes.

Katherine broke from away from Elijah to link arms with Bonnie. "What are we drinking? Shots? Shots!" Bonnie shot her an incredulous look, "Didn't your drunk ass close this place yesterday? How are you even able to drink right now?"

Katherine laughed, tossing her curls back. "Oh my little Bon Bon, we have to get you back into drinking shape." She looked around for a bartender, "Hey Parker! Shots!" Liv somehow heard her over everything else and soon there was a tray filled with shots on the bar in front of them. "If you puke, that's on you." Liv made sure to address Bonnie specifically before taking off to the other end of the bar.

"Well, that was awfully nice of her." Katherine mused. Bonnie laughed, because actually, that was Liv's way of telling her to be careful. Bonnie wanted to tell her not to worry, she'd planned on switching to water after her last drink anyway.

She felt him a split second before she saw a hand adorned with a thumb ring reach past her to grab a shot. She let her gaze follow the shot glass as he lifted it in a mock salute and knocked it back. Bonnie watched his throat work for a split second before averting her gaze.

"Yes! That's what I'm talking about." Katherine cheered before knocking hers back as well, Elijah and Nik following suit.

"Not gonna have a shot with us, Bon?" If she thought Kai Parker was good looking in her old world, then he had nothing on this one. When she initially met him in the 1994 prison world, she can now admit she thought he was cute. When he escaped the 1903 prison world, the aging process had kick started again, and physically he looked more mature.

But this Kai? Constantly keeps Bonnie off kilter. He wasn't 22, nor his supposed age in the old world of almost 40. He was older, yes, but only a few years from hitting the big 3-0. This Kai had stubble that he kept groomed, along with laugh lines around his eyes that Bonnie kept wanting to smooth out. She had crept to the window to secretly observe him one morning while he cut her Grams' grass shirtless and yeah, it went without saying he must work out on a regular basis.

This Kai was extremely hazardous to Bonnie's health.

And of course he and Grams got along like a house on fire, so he was always in and out of the house doing odds and ends for Sheila. More than once, Bonnie had assumed she was alone in the house, only to have him pop up out of nowhere and scare the shit out of her.

* * *

 _"_ _What the fuck Kai?" Bonnie willed her heart to slow down. It was a damn good thing she had no magic, otherwise something would be broken._

 _He just smiled at her, "Live right Bonster, and you won't have to be scared all the time."_

 _Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Okay you have been hanging around Grams way too much. Speaking of, where is she? And why are you here?"_

 _"_ _First of all, rude much? I'm a guest here, shouldn't you be offering me something to eat or drink, where's the famous 'southern hospitality' I keep hearing so much about?" He teased._

 _"_ _First of all, you're here as much as we are. You have your own coffee mug, and shelf in the fridge for Christ sake! Secondly, you're deflecting. What aren't you telling me?" She saw the flash of surprise on his face before he schooled his face into nonchalance. "You know, something is different about you."_

 _"_ _What?" That threw Bonnie off._

 _"_ _You're different." He repeated, cocking his head to the left. "More direct, more assertive, the way you carry yourself. You even walk differently."_

 _Bonnie willed herself not to react. She lifted her chin to look him in the eyes. "Of course I'm different. I survived a wreck that should have killed me, I was in a coma for a month straight!"_

 _"_ _Yeah that could explain some things, but there's something else…" He trailed off, then shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it's a mystery, and I love a good mystery."_

 _"_ _Then go play Clue or something, and stop trying to analyze me." Bonnie snapped. "This is my life that I'm trying to rebuild. I'd like to do it without someone second guessing me at every turn!" She turned to stomp up the stairs, she'd only made it up two steps before she was halted by his grip on her upper arm. "Hey, wait."_

 _Slowly, ever so slowly, he let his hand trail down her arm, leaving a bevy of goosebumps in its wake, before tangling his fingers with hers, and gently tugging her down a step. With her standing on the stair, she was able to look him directly in the eyes._

 _"_ _You're right, I can't imagine what you've been through. And here I am not making it easier." He squeezed her hand, "Sorry Bon."_

 _In the quiet moments with this Kai, Bonnie sometimes felt a little sad for the Kai in her world. He was ostracized from his family pretty much his entire life, over something that he had no control over, so needless to say his coping skills were non-existent. Not to excuse what he did when he snapped, cause that was the most horrible thing anyone could have done to their family, in Bonnie's opinion. But being here with a Kai who didn't have that burden heaped on him, was a glimpse into the man he could have become._

 _He was still a smart ass, still had a wicked temper when provoked, but Bonnie had stopped fearing that he'd turn around and stab her in the stomach. He was outgoing and so damn charming that half the time, Bonnie found herself forgetting to stay on her guard while he was around. Which was dangerous, because this Kai was not only intelligent but observant too. Who the hell notices how someone walks for Christ sake?_

 _Their moment was interrupted by Sheila clearing her throat. They both jumped, and Bonnie realized he still had a hold of her hand. She squeezed his hand once before withdrawing from his warm grasp. Her grandmother was standing in the entrance with one brow raised. "Can I have a minute of your time to help me unload the groceries Malachai?"_

 _That was another thing Bonnie noticed, he only let certain people call him by his given name, and if someone did happen to say his whole name, it was easily shrugged off. Granted Bonnie never had the chance test that particular theory, but she would bet money that it would not have flown with the Kai that she knew._

 _Kai put on an easy smile, walking to the front door. "Of course you can, Shelia. My mother raised me to never leave a damsel in distress."_

 _"_ _Boy, if you don't get-" Sheila swung her purse in his direction, but he was already out the door. Bonnie watched them interact and wondered if it was like this back in her world. She knew her grandmother had gone to Portland many times, but had no idea what her relationship to Kai entailed. Jo was comfortable enough to come to her for help when she wanted to leave the Gemini Coven behind. If that fateful night hadn't happened, would Jo have still gone across the country for med school? Would Kai have followed? She pulled herself from her thoughts to see her grandmother watching her carefully. "You feeling okay, Bonnie?"_

 _She pasted a bright smile on her face, "Yes Grams, I'm fine. Just gonna go upstairs and chill, let me know if you need any help cooking dinner." Bonnie retreated to the safety of her room, knowing all the while her grandmother was watching her leave._

* * *

"Earth to Bonnie!" Katherine was waving a perfectly manicured hand in front of her face. Bonnie snapped out of her musings and batted her hand away. "I'm good, just got lost in my thoughts for a bit.' She set her now empty glass down on the bar, "I'm through drinking for tonight though, think I'm gonna call it and head home. Can you let everyone know I left?" She had learned the hard way that announcing she was leaving would not correlate to actually leaving. There would be "one last drink" or "one last shot" and before she knew it, it would be hours later.

Katherine pouted, "But I just got here!" Bonnie smiled, "Exactly! They won't even notice I'm gone with you here. Goodnight all." Sometimes being small came in handy as she dipped and ducked around people to make her way towards the exit. She was putting on her coat when she heard, "You're not driving are you?" Bonnie rolled her eyes fondly as Matt stepped out a side door, "No Dad" she teased, "I walked here, I'm staying at my place tonight."

"Like hell you're walking alone? At this hour?" Before she could stop him, he turned and yelled inside that he was taking a break. Then grabbed his coat and joined her on the sidewalk. Bonnie had to smile softly, Matt Donovan was Matt Donovan in any world. Out of everyone, he was the one person that Bonnie never had to have her guard up around. He would be content to just hang out in silence if that's what she wanted.

On the short walk to her apartment, they bickered back and forth, "Matt, I'm not getting a dog."

"I'm just saying Bon, single woman living alone, it can't hurt." Matt persisted.

"It's Mystic Falls, what's the worst—you know what? I'm not even gonna finish that sentence, it would be like tempting fate."

"Smart thinking." Matt agreed. Before long they reached the row of brick apartments that the old Bonnie called home. She bid goodnight to Matt and went through her normal routine of going around to check that the windows were closed and locked before heading upstairs to get dressed for bed.

When she was released from the hospital, Bonnie made the no brainer choice to live with her grandmother until she could be on her own again. But as soon as she was able to get around with little difficulty she started spending more time in the cute 2 bedroom apartment that belonged to her other self. They had similar tastes, that was to be expected, but Bonnie still felt as if she were intruding every time she opened the closet, or used the products that were left behind.

So she made Caroline the happiest girl in the world, and turned her loose, giving her free reign to go through the closet and toss anything she deemed frumpy, out of season, or just plain awful. Caroline cackled with glee and immediately arranged a "New Bonnie" party. She and Liv tore through her apartment, with Luke coming in to handle her kitchen. She was now the proud owner of a top of the line cookware set, that while it looked very pretty, she wasn't sure she would get much use out of it. Having said as much to Luke, he just winked and said that maybe she should get someone to teach her.

Nothing was spared, not even Bonnie herself. Caroline physically pushed her into Katherine and Rebekah's arms and told them not to come back until she got rid of that mess on her head. 'I love you Bonnie, but that has got to go!'

Her hair had been long and she could tell that straightening it so often had pretty much fried it, so she went in for the big chop. She walked out with a pixie cut that nearly gave everyone around her a heart attack, apparently this Bonnie was very adamant about having long, straight hair.

Although the reason for that didn't make itself known until later.

She rocked her natural curls, and soon her hair was healthier and down to her shoulders. She often considered cutting it again, but hadn't settled on a style she liked just yet.

After making sure the downstairs was secure, she moved upstairs. Mentally already drawing herself a bath, she totally missed the shadow reclining on her bed. It wasn't until she had her dress off and was standing in just her bra and panties did it speak.

"Looking good Bon Bon."

"WHO THE FUCK…DAMON!?"

Bonnie damn near wet herself, what the hell was he doing in her house? In her bed? How did he even get in?

"How the hell did you even get in here?" She asked, while frantically trying to cover herself.

Damon said nothing, although his eyes followed her as she bounced from one part of the room to the other. Where the FUCK was her robe?

"Looking for this?" He held up the robe that Rebekah had bought for her, "Every girl needs a luxurious robe, Bonnie" she had said. Bonnie side eyed her, "Bitch your family is rich, I'm not paying 300 dollars for a damn robe!" Bonnie had left it in the store, but it somehow found its way into her newly decorated bathroom. She would never tell Rebekah, but there were times when she laid around in just the robe.

Sue her. It was comfy as hell.

So to see it dangling from Damon's traitorous finger was a bit traumatizing for her. 'Don't worry baby, momma will save you.' She mentally sent to the robe. Snatching up the first shirt and shorts she could get her hands on, she quickly re-dressed and turned to face her bed. The bastard hadn't moved an inch, oh wait, he had. He had laid the robe over his stretched out legs and was stroking the fabric.

'Great, now I have to burn it.' Was her only thought, before her mind resumed her earlier track. She marched over to grab her robe, but Damon held fast. "Dammit Damon, let go!" He relinquished his grip and she stumbled back a few steps before turning to place it on the hook behind her bathroom door. "Don't worry baby, momma will take you to the dry cleaners to get the feel of the dirty man's fingers off you." She whispered.

"You used to like my dirty fingers on you." Evidently she wasn't quiet enough.

"Ew. Seriously? Ew." Bonnie shuddered before facing him head on. "What are you doing here, Damon?" She asked wearily.

"I wanted to see how you were doing."

"Phones are a great way to accomplish that."

"You changed your number."

"Email works too."

"Would you have answered my emails?"

"Probably not."

"Okay then. Here we are." He paused, and peered at her closely. "Seriously, how are you Bonnie? I wanted to come when I heard but…." He trailed off uncertainly.

Bonnie cocked her head, "When did you hear about my accident?" It wasn't an accusation, she was genuinely curious as to how long it was kept from him. Damon hemmed and hawed before he confessed "Two months ago. Jenna slipped up while talking to Elena, and mentioned that Logan Fell was amazed that you were recovering so fast. Did some digging around and WOW can people keep a secret when they want to." He let out a strained chuckle.

He got up off the bed and approached her, "Bonnie I'm so sorry. I should have come back sooner."

"What for?" Bonnie asked. Damon had his 'cmon, really?' face on.

"Seriously, what for Damon? Are you a doctor? Or a physical therapist? There wasn't a damn thing you could have done to help me. I was in a car accident, I survived. Took a while, but I'm finally back on track. So you can put your guilty conscious to rest. That wasn't about you."

"You sure about that? Cause if the timing is right, it happened shortly after-"Damon stopped abruptly.

Bonnie sneered "No, go on Damon. Finish your sentence. It happened shortly after you and someone I thought was my best friend, no, my sister, ran off together and got married. And that was after you were both outed at my birthday party!" Bonnie had read her other half's journal entries and it broke her heart in two.

That poor girl was so in love with Damon. She completely remade herself into what she thought would keep him with her. She changed how she dressed, how she wore her hair, and even tried to slim down to mimic Elena's svelte frame. Of course all that did in the end was make her look sickly and gaunt.

Bonnie easily recognized the sadness and the constant fear of abandonment that was written down, because she felt it too. But this girl didn't have the supernatural to distract her from her feelings. No, she got up every single day and had to see the two people she had trusted most in the world find love with each other.

And it wasn't like they were discrete, there were pages and pages of journal entries with 'Delena' sightings and honestly, Bonnie thought she should have done what Stefan did and got the hell out of town.

But she didn't. She stayed.

Thus starting a never ending circle of misery. Bonnie was so afraid the last entry would be of her saying goodbye before she took her own life. She had received a copy of the police report from Liz Forbes and the official cause of the accident was listed as weather related. It had rained that night and a few lights were out along the road. But Bonnie would bet everything that alcohol was also a factor, as well as a broken heart.

Because what nobody ever uttered was the fact that the road she was on? Led straight to the Salvatore Manor. Bonnie had no idea what her other self was planning on doing once she reached the house. Mother Nature and fate were working in tandem that night apparently. Without ever knowing her other self, but knowing the feelings that she kept beneath the surface, brought out the protective side of Bonnie.

The other Bonnie may never have gotten the chance to tell Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert to go to hell, but she sure wouldn't waste the opportunity.

Bonnie exhaled in order to calm herself, "Are you done? It feels like you're done. You've seen me, I'm fine, in the best shape of my life. Now, kindly traipse your ass out of here, be sure to leave the key-actually never mind. I'll just have the locks changed." She made her way downstairs and headed to the front door.

"Bonnie, wait. There's something else I need to tell you." Damon was hot on her heels.

"Don't care. I would say it's been nice seeing you, but I'm trying to give up lying. Don't let the door hit you on your way out-" She opened her door and stopped short. Kai was standing there, fist raised to knock. "You've got great timing, Bon."


	3. Revelations

_"_ _Don't care. I would say it's been nice seeing you, but I'm trying to give up lying. Don't let the door hit you on your way out." She opened her door and stopped short. Kai was standing there, fist raised to knock. "You've got great timing, Bon."_

Bonnie fought the urge to blurt out the most cliché defense in history: 'it's not what it looks like!' But then remembered she had done nothing wrong. She was in her own damn apartment, and she was a grown ass woman, dammit!

Although standing between both Damon and Kai, it sure felt like she was missing something.

"Parker."

"Asshole."

"Okay! Great visit, Damon. Lovely to see you, well, not really. I meant what I said about changing the locks. Don't come back unless you're invited." Bonnie pulled Kai into her apartment, while motioning for Damon to leave.

"You're letting **him** stay?" Damon's eyes flashed blue fire.

"That is none of your damn business, and you know it. Leave." She said through clenched teeth.

Damon refused to budge. "I gotta talk to you, Bon." He lowered his voice, "can you meet me at our spot later?"

The urge to maim Damon, which never really went away even after they became friends, came on so strong Bonnie had to grip the door to hide the clenching and unclenching of her hand. The nerve of this jackass! The sad thing is, Bonnie was sure that if he were talking to her other self, she would have caved in an instant.

" What do you WANT Salvatore?" Bonnie spat out.

"Yeah, Damon why don't you share with the class what was so important that it couldn't wait until a more reasonable hour." Bonnie turned to admonish Kai, but did a double take when she saw he was munching on the leftover potato salad that she had swiped from her Grams' place.

"You're here two seconds and already in my fridge? I was saving that for work on Monday!" She grumbled.

"Stop pouting, I'll make you some more." Kai rolled his eyes as Bonnie perked up "I'll even make sure to include the raisins."

"You do and I'll kill you. I'm serious. I won't even bother to make it look like an accident." Bonnie threatened.

"Hey!" Damon cut in. He did not like what he was seeing. Bonnie had never spoken to him like this, and to flat out ignore him for Kai Parker? He got the feeling he missed a lot while he was gone.

"You're still here?" Bonnie questioned. "I'm not going to meet you at 'our spot'" Bonnie air quoted, "so you might as well tell me now. Hold on, let me guess. What, you're dying? You're moving? You've lost all your money and are now destitute? I know you know better than to ask me for a loan." Bonnie would have kept on going, if not for his next words.

"Elena's pregnant."

Bonnie froze. She was unsure how to handle that information. Her mind quickly rifled through the journal entries she had already read. Had her other half mentioned anything about being pregnant? It didn't matter, because even though she personally didn't give two shits, she knew there was at least one other person that would be devastated by this news.

Stefan.

She hadn't been on the best terms with her worlds Stefan prior to his sacrifice, obviously due to him ripping Enzo's heart out. But in this world, Stefan had quickly reached out to Bonnie while she was recuperating. No matter where he was in the world, he had always made time to either call, skype, or shoot a quick email at least once a week.

He had mentioned wanting to come back to Mystic Falls for a few days a while ago, most likely to check up on how she was doing. There were tentative plans to make it a day trip, go rent a cabin and just chill at the lake. At least that's how it started out, she casually mentioned it to Caroline, and before she knew it, their small get together had turned into a big BBQ blowout.

Bonnie narrowed her eyes at Damon. A blowout that was scheduled to happen this upcoming weekend.

"You low down son of a bitch!" Bonnie hissed. Damon eased back as if Bonnie's anger was physically pushing him away. "Why now? Tell me, why did you choose to come back now?" Damon looked confused. Bonnie laughed spitefully. "You don't even know, do you? Let me fill you in Damon. Stefan is supposed to be coming back. We were all planning on going to the lake and hanging out this weekend. So tell me honestly." Bonnie leaned in to deliver her jab. "Whose idea was it to come back now?"

From the look on his face, Bonnie could tell he had had no idea about Stefan coming through. He probably thought he had been the one to talk Elena into coming home, but in reality, he got played just like everyone else did.

Damon tried to rally, "I just thought we could get closure and come to an agreement. This is our home too, and if we're all gonna be living here-" He stopped when Bonnie held up her hand.

"Closure? Look, I don't know what it is that you need specifically, but I'm good. We have no unfinished business Damon. I have never and I will never interfere with you and Elena living here. I wasn't the one going around town flaunting the fact that I was fucking my former best friends' boyfriend. Or fucking my former girlfriend's best friend." Bonnie paused as if to think. "Or for that matter fucking my brothers girlfriend-"

"Can you stop saying fucking?" Damon was looking nervously up and down her hallway.

"FUCK YOU!" Bonnie yelled at full volume. "How's that for closure?" Bonnie moved to slam the door, but Damon grabbed the door to stall her efforts. "Bonnie, you're acting a little crazy. Come on-"

"Crazy? Oh, I got your crazy." Bonnie was gearing up for another tirade when she felt the heat at her back.

"She said leave." Kai's voice was pure steel.

"This has nothing to do with you, Mal-a-chai" Damon sneered, drawing out his whole name. "What are you even doing here?"

"That's none of your gotdamned business. Shouldn't you be focused on your _wife_?" Kai stressed the last word. "I mean who knows, she could be out there finding another sucker, I mean, partner, right this minute." If looks could kill Kai would be 6, no 12, feet under.

"Bonnie, can you dismiss your guard dog so we can talk?" Bonnie could tell that this Damon was not used to not getting his way with her. All he probably had to do in the past was bat his baby blues and the other Bonnie would melt. Which pissed her off even more.

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of him. Besides, I thought we were done? Let me make this clear. I'm over it. All of this. I'm over it, and I'm over you. So, bye Felicia!" This time when she closed the door, he didn't try to stop her.

Bonnie rested her forehead against the door and closed her eyes, when she was sure Damon had left she turned to sag against it. Kai hadn't moved from his spot, and when she opened her eyes, he was watching her closely.

"Thank you." Bonnie said quietly.

"No problem. Although, I think you were handling it just fine. Gratuitous use of the word 'fuck' notwithstanding." At that Bonnie lost it, doubling over in laughter. Kai following suit a moment later. It took a bit to get themselves under control, but when they did, Bonnie realized she was in her apartment, alone, with the one man that was taking up too much of her thoughts lately.

"Um, so not to sound ungrateful, but what are you doing here?" Bonnie queried. "I know it wasn't just to eat my potato salad." She teased. When Kai's eyebrows shot up and the hint of a smile reappeared on his face, she replayed what she just said. "Oh God." She felt her face heat up in embarrassment. "Please, please can we just ignore I said that." Knowing full well that he wouldn't let it go that easy.

"Oh I don't know Bon, your potato salad might be tasty."

"Stop."

"I mean, I haven't had it before, so I can't really say."

"Seriously. I have to move now."

"Do you have any samples available?"

"I'm mentally packing for a trip to Guam in my head right now."

"Oh, come on. Just a little taste?"

Bonnie opened her door again, "Goodnight Malachai." He walked past her still tossing out innuendos about potato salad.

Bonnie made sure to do a thorough check of her place before she went to sleep that night. Making sure both the deadbolt and the chain were engaged, she went upstairs to finally take that bath.

After she changed the bedding Damon had sat on of course.

* * *

Kickboxing had become something that Bonnie really looked forward to. Her physical therapist had suggested she supplement her visits with him, with some other fitness class. Yoga and Pilates were enticing, but she chose cardio kickboxing. If asked why, she usually made some joke about how Mason's ass looked in his sweats.

The truth was Bonnie felt even more vulnerable now that she had no magic. She had relied on it for so long, as well as the abilities of her super powered friends, that now she felt every inch of her 5 foot nothing frame. So she took kickboxing classes, and started running with Matt on the weekends. Normally she only managed to drag one or two of her friends to class with her.

Which is why it was strange that when she walked into the gym for her normal 0800 class, she swore the whole crew was there. She normally saw Luke at the reception desk, nothing new about that. Matt and Tyler were lifting weights, which was odd because Tuesday and Thursdays were designated weight lifting days. But what truly tipped her off was when she walked into her classroom. Caroline and Rebekah were warming up by the mirrors, chatting enthusiastically amongst themselves. Katherine was trying to find the best angle for a selfie, Liv was laying on a mat with shades on, a huge to-go cup of what Bonnie guessed was coffee right next to her.

Bonnie felt her heart expand a bit. These people, these wonderful people all showed up for her when they thought she would need it. She wondered if her other self even realized how lucky she was to be surrounded by people who loved her enough to get up before 8 on a Saturday. Especially after a night of drinking.

That class was one of the most fun classes she had ever had. She did feel a little bad for Mason, because at one point Katherine let out a wolf howl, and the whole class fell out laughing. Later as they were all cooling down (more like laying around on the mats and gossiping) Luke walked in and pointed at Bonnie accusingly, "I don't know you said to my brother, but he came home talking about potato salad, and when I left this morning, he was making a store run."

Bonnie tried to temper the smile that she knew was breaking out across her face. "Don't look at me, he's the weird one." She knew she had a horrible poker face, so she tried to change the subject. "Kat how are you even up right now?"

Katherine didn't even look up from her phone, "Don't be silly Bon Bon, I haven't even gone to sleep yet. Stop deflecting and answer the question."

Bonnie blinked. "Was there a question?" Her feelings towards Kai were complicated. They would be hanging out and then he'd say something off the wall, and for a split second, Bonnie would swear that the Kai from her world was there. It wasn't like she could blurt out that she was just waiting on him to flip his switch and try and murder someone. This Kai never felt threatening towards her, she never had a reason to fear him. She just…couldn't take that extra step.

"The question is, when are you going to get your head out of your ass and put my brother out of his misery?" Liv asked from her prone position on the floor. The most she had done during class was raise an arm or leg.

"Bonnie…" Oh God, that was Caroline's 'listen to me, I know best' voice. "I get that you're hesitant about getting involved with someone else, but you do know that Kai won't screw you over, right?"

"Yes, Care. I do know that. That's not the issue." Bonnie tried to explain.

"Then what is it? Cause I've got $250 on you guys finally giving in and getting busy sometime this month. Around the 25th specifically" Rebekah chimed in.

"I had last month, you cost me a lot of money, Bon." Liv complained.

"You guys bet on me?" Bonnie asked. "Wait, what's it up to now?"

"Elijah says it's over a grand." Katherine input helpfully.

" _Elijah_ is betting on my love life?" Bonnie screeched.

"Well, it's only fair. Kol started it, but since he can't always be here, he needed someone honest to hold the money." Rebekah explained.

"Kol started it? HE DOESN'T EVEN GO HERE!" Bonnie collapsed on the nearest mat and threw her towel over her face. "I hate all of you."

Luke looked up and swore, "Oh what fresh hell is this?"

"Not falling for it, Luke." Bonnie mumbled from underneath her towel.

"Hey everybody. I didn't know we all worked out at the same time now." The voice was unmistakable. It was the voice of a hundred sleepovers, of skinned knees at recess, and close confidantes. Elena Gilbert had been in her life for so long, and for once, Bonnie truly had no idea how to react. The other Bonnie had barely mentioned the other girl, her focus being mostly on Damon. But for this Bonnie, the deepest betrayal wasn't with Damon, oh no. Boys came and went, but your girls were supposed to always be there.

When the silence had stretched for an uncomfortable amount of time, she heard Elena clear her throat. "So, um. I'm actually glad I ran into you all, I just wanted to let you know to keep the 20th of next month free."

"Why? Is that the day you get your head removed from Damon's ass?" She heard Katherine ask sweetly.

"No, it's the day of my baby shower."

You could have heard a pin drop. The silence went on and on until: "Hell naw, I don't care if that's my niece she's carrying, I'm gonna fuck her ass up." Bonnie threw off the towel and sat up to see Luke and Rebekah restraining Katherine, who looked like she had been mid-lunge.

Caroline simply pulled up a mat and laid next to Liv, who hadn't so much as twitched.

She turned to finally look at Elena, who looked the same as she ever did. With the exception of the baby bump that was very noticeable. "Thanks for the invite, but maybe you should just go."

Elena huffed, "I thought we could all be adults about this!" Turning to Bonnie, she pointed accusingly, "You said you didn't want to throw away our friendship over a guy, that all you needed was a little time and we'd be okay!"

"I WAS LYING OUT MY FUCKING ASS!" Bonnie yelled, jumping to her feet. God, she was so fed up with all of this. Was this really the only world available to jump to? Surely there had to be one in which she was a nun, or a farmer who only went into town once a month?

"Elena, no sane person would ever be okay with what you and Damon did. You fucked me over when you started creeping with Damon behind my back. You fucked yourself over when you cheated on Stefan. You definitely fucked our friendship over when you didn't even have the goddamn decency to apologize!"

As she watched Elena struggle to come to terms with the consequences of her actions, Bonnie had a sudden revelation. Elena probably did think everything would be okay, she was the golden child. The angel to Katherine's devil. Whatever Elena wanted, she got, and still came out smelling like roses. To suddenly be a pariah in her hometown must have come as a shock. Bonnie almost felt sorry for her, that fall from grace must have hurt like hell.

Bonnie took a deep breath, "I don't hate you. I truly wish you, Damon, and whomever is in there nothing but the best, but, we're done. You go your way, and I'll go mine. I'll be cordial when we meet because let's face it, this is a small ass town. I won't be going out of my way anymore to accommodate you." She bent to gather her things, if she left now, she could get in a few hours of meditating. Anything to at least try and salvage this day.

"You never used to curse this much, is it a side effect of the accident?" Elena asked, head tilted in curiosity.

Bonnie laughed, "You know, I was wondering what Damon's problem was last night. I guess I understand now, he's getting ready to be a daddy."

"What do you mean 'last night'? Elena hissed, grabbing on to Bonnie's arm.

"I mean," Bonnie yanked her arm back, "he was in my house. Chilling in _my_ goddamn room, sitting on _my_ goddamn bed, defiling _my_ goddamn robe! That reminds me, hey Kat, can you call that guy from the hardware store? I need to change all my locks."

"Done."

"You should keep an eye on him, he goes wandering." Bonnie knew the jab was unnecessary, but she was feeling a little petty, sue her.

"You're lying." Elena shook her head.

Bonnie threw her hands up "Why would I lie? But if you feel the need for verification, ask Kai. He was there."

"Of course, he'd say anything you wanted him to." Elena scoffed.

Bonnie glanced around disbelievingly, was this chick for real?

"Bonnie, look." Elena was using her 'I know I'm right, just go ahead and agree with me' voice. "I get that you're probably jealous."

"Hoe, don't do it." Caroline was sitting up now.

"I'm sorry that you lost your baby, but-" Elena never got to finish her sentence. All Bonnie saw was blond hair and LIV of all people, springing towards Elena.

"Oh my God."

* * *

In the end, it took all of them, minus Katherine who had been filming, to keep Liv away from Elena. Tyler rushed in to toss a still screaming Liv over his shoulder, while Matt escorted Elena to her car. She clung to him and whimpered that "she didn't even say anything to Liv, so why was she so mad?"

In the chaos that followed, Bonnie made her getaway. Thankful for having parked on the far side of the gym, rather than the front parking lot. She headed towards her favorite thinking spot at the falls.

A baby. There had been a baby at one time. She guessed that was why Damon made a midnight call to her place. A part of her wanted to go tearing through the expansive journals, but Bonnie decided then and there that it was none of her business, her other half deserved to have some of her privacy respected, even in death.

The problem, of course, was that for all intents and purposes, she _was_ that Bonnie.

Parking behind a copse of trees, lest someone drove by looking for her. She wasn't really in the mood to the soft words of apology that she knew would await her. Her cell phone was going off like crazy, she knew she had to let them know that she was at least okay. Picking up the phone she deliberated before simply sending out a clock emoji. Letting them know she needed time. Instantly her phone was flooded with 'I love you' and heart emojis.

Stripping down to just her undies, Bonnie walked into the water, letting the cold water shock her system. She wondered if the other Bonnie had loved to swim as much as she did. Maybe she should have held out until a Bonnie that lived on an island somewhere was about to die.

She dove and frolicked for a good while, until finally the water was more cold than refreshingly cool. Making her way towards the shore, she swore out loud when she realized she had no towel, or change of clothes.

"We really need to do something about that potty mouth of yours." Bonnie let out a shivering laugh as she felt the towel go around her shoulders. She made no effort to move from the warmth that he provided. "Who called you?" She finally asked.

"Luke. Liv was still screaming something about Rosemary's baby in the background." Bonnie laughed into his neck. Frowning slightly when she felt him shudder, she pulled back. "Sorry, I know I'm all cold and clammy right now." This close to Kai she noticed once again, all the little lines that appeared when he smiled. She ignored the danger sirens blaring in her head and reached up to run her fingers over the lines.

She saw him swallow nervously, and fought to hide her grin. "What are you doing?" She ducked her face into his neck. "ilikeyourlaughlines."

"I'm sorry, once again for those of us who don't speak gibberish." Bonnie sighed and lifted her head. "I like your laugh lines." She made sure to enunciate every word this time. He jerked his head back, "okay, that's random. Why?"

Bonnie shrugged, "It's a good measure of how much you've laughed in your life. Generally means that person has had a good life so far."

"You are so weird." He says it with so much warmth, she can easily imagine he's saying something else entirely. "Come on, I've got a surprise for you." He wrapped her in the towel, tucked her into his side and started making his way towards his vehicle.

"I'm parked over there, though."

"We'll come back for it. Let's move Bennett-Hopkins." Bonnie starts. She keeps forgetting that this Bonnie has a hyphenated last name. She wonders if it's too late to change it to just Bennett. She's going over various name combinations when they reach Kai' SUV. The passenger door opens and-

"AAAAHHHHH!" Bonnie shrieks and takes off toward the vehicle. Stefan catches her mid jump and she clings to him like a limpet. "What are you doing here already?" She resists his effort to put her down, so he gets into the backseat with Bonnie still attached.

"Heard there was supposed to be some big party or something happening. Thought I'd drop in, grab a plate, you know the usual. Hey, speaking of usual, why don't my keys to your place work? I was sitting outside trying to call when Kai came by."

Bonnie looked in the rearview mirror only to find Kai already watching her. "Yeah, he's been killing it in the knight in shining armor department lately."


	4. Revelations Pt 2

Kai seemed to be reading her mind when, instead of taking her home, he steered them in the direction of the Parker house. Since Bonnie had not planned on taking a dip in the falls when woke up that morning, she needed a change of clothes, and after a quick stop at her Grams' cottage, they were on their way. Stefan and Kai were discussing the newer businesses that had popped up since Stefan was last home for a visit.

The Parker house, Bonnie had been surprised to discover, was not too far from where the old witch house was located in her world. No such house existed in this universe, she wasn't sure if it ever had and was torn down, or if it was never built in the first place. The single unpaved road that was once overrun with trees was now a double lane road that led to a newer part of Mystic Falls. Complete with a huge IMAX theater, a few B&B's, a clinic where Jo worked, as well as a fine dining restaurant that Kai's father owned, but Kai managed.

Bonnie _adored_ this world's Joshua Parker. Once she was out of the hospital and undergoing the hellish physical therapy regimen, he had kept herself and Grams well fed. He was jovial, kind, and had a never ending supply of dad jokes. Her own father, she learned, was in and out of this Bonnie's life much like the Rudy Hopkins in her world. Surprisingly, that actually made Bonnie feel better, because it wasn't a 'my daughter is a witch and I'm uncomfortable with that, so I'm gonna leave her in the hands of her witch grandmother' thing. It was just a "I'm a crappy parent, period" thing.

Well, parents really, because Abby had yet to make an appearance.

"Bon?"

She snaps back to the present to see they've arrived at the house. Stefan was unloading his duffle bag from the back and Kai was holding her door open. "Such a gentleman." She teased while climbing down. Kai rolled his eyes while reaching past her to grab her bag. Bonnie froze, he still had one arm over the top of the door, while the other was sliding her bag towards the door. He was effectively caging her in, but Bonnie didn't feel smothered at all, on the contrary, she willed him to lean in a little more. If he tilted his head just a bit more to the right, and if Bonnie raised up on her tiptoes just a little bit…..

SLAM!

Stefan closing the back of the SUV broke the spell. Bonnie grabbed her bag and beat a hasty retreat to the house, leaving both boys behind. Tossing a quick "hi" to Mr. Parker, she headed upstairs towards Jo's room to use her shower.

* * *

A half hour and a stern talking to herself later, she emerged to a quiet house, which was odd. There was usually music blaring from somewhere, or a T.V turned up just a little bit too loud. Working in kitchens his whole life surrounded by loud equipment had slightly damaged Mr. Parkers hearing, but he refused to wear hearing aids inside his own home.

Rounding the corner to get to the kitchen, Bonnie's stomach started rumbling as she realized she hadn't eaten since before she left her apartment this morning, and it was now almost 1. She burst into the kitchen and threw herself on the island dramatically, "I'm wasting away. Feed me, Seymour!"

She heard Stefan's chuckle, "Really? We're pulling out Little Shop of Horrors?" Bonnie shrugged, "Seemed appropriate." Looking around she realized he was the only other person in the kitchen.

"Where did…"

"Something happened with the restaurant, they left to handle it." Stefan gestured to the simmering skillet on the stove, "Mr. P gave us permission to taste test his newest creation."

Did Bonnie mention that she adored Mr. Parker? Because she really, REALLY, adored Mr. Parker.

"Hells yeah." She hurried to the cabinets to grab some plates, "what are we eating?"

Stefan cleared his throat and adopted a snooty waiter's voice "For madam, today we have pan seared pork chops in a white wine reduction, paired with creamy garlic thyme potatoes, all accompanied by a lovely medley of spring vegetables." He read from an index card. Mr. Parker was meticulous in writing down all of his recipes, even the ones that didn't make it on his menu.

Bonnie pretended to think, "Yes, that will do very nicely, jeeves." Their laughter soon turned into moans of appreciation. Cooking was something the Parkers knew how to do very well. Well, the men at least, Bonnie didn't think she'd ever seen Liv or Jo anywhere near a stove.

"Hey, so you never told me. Why wouldn't my key work?" Bonnie groaned, of course he hadn't forgotten. He just lured her into complacency with a belly full of good food. She decided to just rip off the band aid.

"Damon's back. I got home Friday night, and the bastard was in my house, in my room, molesting my robe."

"Oh." Stefan's face, hell his entire body, had become closed off. "Did you see…?"

"Yeah, this morning at the gym." Bonnie wished she had something stronger than water to drink right now. She took a deep breath, "Stefan, she's pregnant."

He went absolutely still. "Are you sure?"

Bonnie nodded, "Yeah, kinda hard to miss."

She watched him closely, the Stefan from her world had always had a pretty good poker face, except when it came to Elena. Hell, she never understood how it was that Damon didn't end up with a stake through the heart. Or, being that Damon was the only family Stefan had left in the world and it was understandable that he didn't want him dead, why Stefan didn't break his neck and toss him into the tomb beneath Fells Church.

She understood why this Stefan got the hell out of town once the whole thing blew up in their faces.

"Well, shit. Here's to the happy couple." He said bitterly, lifting his glass in salute. Bonnie reached across the table and took his hand in hers, "You're gonna be okay, Stef." He nodded, and Bonnie could see him blinking back tears. They stayed that way for few minutes before withdrew her hand and stood up.

"To hell with this water crap, we need the hard stuff." Within minutes they had cleared the table, cleaned up after themselves and had each grabbed a bottle (or two in Stefan's case) of wine from the cellar.

* * *

Two hours in, and Stefan had made his way through his two bottles, as well as half of Bonnie's. It was a little unscrupulous of her to keep plying him with alcohol, but she figured if he was sloshed then he wouldn't notice that he was the only one taking this so hard.

"I don't…..I don't wanna talk about them anymore, Bon. I'm sad now." Stefan whined. They were currently sitting on the floor, Bonnie leaning against the couch, with Stefan's head in her lap. She stroked his hair, "Okay then why don't you tell me about where you've been?" His face lit up in excitement. "I've been everywhere, Bon!" And he proceeded to regale her with tales of far off places that she has only seen through pictures. She'd had plans to leave Mystic Falls and go traveling in her old world, back before she bit the dust for the final time. But of course, nothing ever came of that.

"Paris! Oh man, Paris was amazing, Bon. You should go see it." Stefan is still going on and on about his travels. So he doesn't realize when she freezes a bit when he mentions Paris. Her trip with Enzo to the City of Love had been perfect, and that was a memory she would always hold near to her heart. She had tried to look up Enzo a while back. Searching any and all 'Lorenzo St. Johns' yielded little luck, so Bonnie took it as a sign and stopped looking.

Bonnie was a bit envious of this Stefan, he saw the writing on the wall and took off with a duffle bag and his camera. He said he had only wanted to clear his mind and take pictures, and that's how he got his start as a freelance photographer. His pictures were called 'hauntingly beautiful' and 'heartbreakingly sad' by many. Stefan had revealed earlier that he was talking to Nik about having some of his pictures featured in Nik's art gallery, she hoped it was still the case, even with his brother and ex-girlfriend returning to town.

The front door opening and slamming shut surprises them both. Bonnie looks up expecting to see Kai, but is met by the sheepish face of Tyler. Followed by Luke's rarely seen stern face, and Liv's…..wait.

"What is going on with her?" Bonnie asked. Liv was loose limbed and actually smiling at everyone. She dropped down next to Bonnie and rested her head on her shoulder.

"Yeah, Tyler. Please tell us what's going on with my sister." Luke turned to look at Tyler, who managed to look even more sheepish. "I was just trying to calm her down! So I, uh, gave her one of my mom's Xanax."

Bonnie's mouth dropped open in shock. "Um Ty, not to sound….whatever, but you know your mom is like hardcore, right? She's not messing around with her dosage. What Carol Lockwood takes can stop a damn rhino in it's tracks."

"Yeah, thanks, Bon, kinda figuring that out now." Tyler snapped. "Look, I only gave her one, my mom usually takes two. It can't be that bad, can it?"

As one they all turned to look at Liv, who was now sprawled on the floor, softly petting her hair while singing the chorus to "So Fresh So Clean".

"Is that Outkast? Stefan asked.

* * *

It turns out Liv is much easier to handle when she's high. Every suggestion is met with a wide smile and a cheerful "okay!" Luke relaxes enough to take a quick snap and send it to Katherine, who sends it to Caroline. And since Caroline is with Rebekah…..before long everyone has made plans to come over and it's turned into something of an impromptu gathering.

"You know Liv is going to absolutely kill you when this wears off, right?" Bonnie leans over to whisper in Tylers ear. He nods sagely, "Yep. It's been fun knowing you. Tell my mom I love her, and tell her to let Mason or Matt clean out my bottom desk drawer."

"Ew. I'm going somewhere else now." Bonnie is standing a little off to the side just watching the people that she calls friends interact, and wishes she has a camera right then, just so she can capture the moment forever.

"I'm so sorry, Bon" Caroline's voice is soft and regretful. She turns to see her oldest friend fighting back tears. Bonnie shakes her head, "No Care, don't-" Caroline cuts her off to continue. "I'm sorry I wasn't more available to you then. Nik and I had just started seeing each other, and being around you made me feel guilty that I was so happy, and so I avoided you."

Bonnie feels like an absolute shit, because here is Caroline pouring out her heart to who she thinks is her best friend, not knowing that her friend is gone. For the first time, Bonnie seriously contemplates telling someone about the switch. Her Caroline was supportive, if maybe a bit snarky at first of her being a witch, maybe this one would be too.

As quickly as she has that thought, she lets it go. She was able to _prove_ she was a witch, the Caroline in her world got an up close and personal sneak peek at the supernatural by being turned. Here, in this non-magical world, there was no way of proving or disproving anything.

So she smiles and holds her arms out, Caroline launches herself at Bonnie, promises of being a better friend spilling from her lips. Bonnie tightens her grip and promises the same.

Later, much later, when Liv is back to normal and everyone has gone home or gone to bed, as Bonnie is falling asleep in Jo's bed, the question of telling someone is bouncing around in her head.

Would anyone believe her?

* * *

The next morning dawns bright and clear. Bonnie heads downstairs hoping someone else is awake enough to take her to get her car.

"You're up early." Mr. Parker is in his normal seat at the tucked away breakfast nook. The Sunday times spread out before him. Bonnie knows he'll attempt to do the crossword puzzle, but will get so aggravated that he'll give up halfway through.

Bonnie changes direction and goes to sit next to him, "Grams wants to have breakfast, which is code for 'I want to talk to you'". I was actually hoping someone would be up to drive me to get my car. I left it at the Falls yesterday."

Joshua frowns, "I could have sworn I saw your car out front this morning when I grabbed the paper." Bonnie gets up and goes to the window, and sure enough, her Prius is parked right behind Lukes jeep. "Oh, never mind then. I'll be on my way then. Thanks for letting me crash here."

"Anytime, you know that." He turns his attention back to his paper.

Once Bonnie reaches her Grams place, she takes a moment to send a quick thank you text. The reply is swift:

- _No problem, Bonster_.

Rolling her eyes at the nickname that he will just not let go of, she looks up to see her grandmother standing in the doorway, waiting for her to get out of the car.

 _'_ _Here we go'_ Bonnie thinks to herself.

The hug that her grandmother gives her feels like a balm for her soul. She takes in the smell of bacon, eggs, and…

"Is that cinnamon?" Bonnie asks excitedly. Sheila just smiles, and Bonnie is pumped. Her Grams has a recipe for apple cinnamon muffins that no matter how hard Bonnie tried, she could never get it to taste exactly right. Sheila steers her towards the kitchen, "My old hands aren't what they used to be, can you finish peeling and cutting the apples for me?"

It's a trap, Bonnie _knows_ it's a trap, but muffins…

She's got a good rhythm going, and is softly singing along with one of her favorite Jackson 5 songs when her grams casually asks:

"Do you remember Ms. Shirley Brown? She used to teach the Sunday school class."

Bonnie thinks for a minute, "The one who always smelled like cats? She's still teaching?"

 _You're all I need to get by_

"Hush child, don't be disrespectful….and yes that's her."

 _No one else can make me cry_

"We were talking about the concept of second chances. Specifically when a person dies, and they were given a chance to do it all over again."

 _The way, you do, baby_

Bonnie slowed her peeling. Was her grams trying to tell her something?

 _You are the book that I read each day_

"I like the idea of someone getting a second chance at finding happiness. Don't you?"

 _You are the song that I sing_

"Even if that someone's soul has taken the place of another person's soul."

 _Gonna sing it to you_

"A person that has made it very clear that they no longer wished to be here."

 _You are the four seasons of my life_

"I think it would be a merciful thing to let one soul go on and find peace, while the other who _wanted_ to continue living, be given that second chance."

 _But maybe tomorrow_

"Am I wrong?"

 _You'll change your mind, girl_

"No." Was all Bonnie was able to get out before she broke down sobbing.

* * *

"When did you first suspect?" The words are quietly spoken in the still air. They've migrated to the couch. Grams sitting, with Bonnies head in her lap, softly stroking her hair.

"Pretty much immediately. You are a stubborn thing, Ms. Bonnie Sheila." Grams had taken to calling her that after discovering her middle name.

"Really?"

"When the physical therapist mentioned all the work you'd have to do, and how much it would hurt, you just shrugged. As if pain was nothing to you, like you were used to being hurt." Grams shook her head. "You were just so stoic."

Bonnie sat up. "I need you to believe me when I say, I had no control over where I went. I didn't plan to deliberately choose this Bonnie's life."

"I know, baby." Sheila cupped Bonnie's cheeks, "And I need you to understand, my Bonnie was in so much pain, I will always love and miss her. But she's at peace now, and that's all I ever wanted for her." She kissed Bonnie's forehead, "Now I get a second chance too."

* * *

Of all the things Bonnie thought she'd be doing today, watching her (adopted? stolen? borrowed?) grandmother get her life from hearing about Bonnie's life in her world was not one of them.

"Stop. You mean to tell me she slept with his brother, in the house, the next day?" Grams eyes were wide and she was actually clutching her pearls.

"Grams, I told you it was the sire bond!"

"Hmmph. We had girls like that where I'm from, we didn't use no made up terms like 'sire bond' to explain what they were."

Bonnie dropped her head into her hands.

* * *

"Wait, Jeremy? The Gilbert boy? There wasn't anybody else your age around? What was Matt doing?"

"Grams!"

* * *

"They snapped my baby's neck?" Sheila yelled.

"It wasn't…..wait no, that was messed up, go ahead."

* * *

"Wait, so this Enzo guy kidnapped you, held you hostage for two years, and you go and fall in love with him? What was Matt doing _this_ time?"

"I wasn't held hostage, he was _hiding_ me. Why are you so focused on Matt?"

"You'd make some pretty babies."

* * *

"You faced the actual devil?"

"Yeah, I guess. What are you doing, who are you calling?"

"Lillian Hughes. Her granddaughter just married one of those television preachers, wait till she hears my grandbaby faced the actual devil and won."

"You know you can't tell her that! She'll think you're crazy, hang up the phone."

* * *

They were watching Claws when Bonnie's phone chirped.

 _-Stefan's bitching about wanting a milkshake. Headed to the grill, you in?_

 _-Nah. Hanging with Grams tonight. Thanks for the invite._

 _-Shit, I thought this was Sheila, you're invited too, Bon._

Bonnie couldn't help the smile that took over.

 _-Stop trying to steal my grandmother, Parker._

 _-Is it stealing when she comes willingly?_

 _-Goodnight Kai_

"What is Malachai up to now?" Sheila didn't even look away from the television.

"He's headed to the Grill cause Stefan wanted a milkshake wanted to see if I wanted to go." Bonnie answered, distracted by what was happening on screen. She wondered if she could talk Caroline into getting their nails done like the women on the show.

"Isn't Stefan lactose intolerant?" Grams mused.

"Maybe he's a glutton for punishment." She'd have to ask Katherine if she knew of any nail places that specialized in nail art.

* * *

The show had just finished when there was a knock on the door. "I got it!" She called to her grandmother who was messing around with something in the kitchen. She was totally unprepared to see Kai standing there holding a pint of mint chocolate chip, and a pint of butter pecan.

"You make house calls now?" Bonnie arched an eyebrow.

"Only when I'm guaranteed a good tip." He brushed past her and headed to the kitchen. Bonnie leaned against the entryway and watched this worlds Malachai Parker and Sheila Bennett interact. They greeted each other as old friends, and Bonnie could see the respect that each had for the other.

It hit her like a bolt of lightning; this is what normal looks like. The guy that's interested, going above and beyond for the girl he likes. Doing mundane tasks like mowing their lawn, swinging by to ensure an ex-boyfriend isn't causing trouble, or picking up her and her grandmothers favorite flavors of ice cream.

There would be no spells, no bartering with any spirits in order to bring someone back to life, no wondering if he liked her because she was a "Bennett Witch" and could work miracles.

It would be just because they liked plain ol Bonnie Bennett-Hopkins.


	5. Invitation

Bonnie should change her name to Cher.

Because much like titular character from Clueless, now that she has had her epiphany, she has no idea how to act around Kai. Sure, she dated a bit back before everything went to hell in a handbasket back in her world but, she was totally out of practice. The time she spent with Enzo was a direct result of having to hide from the Armory, not to mention, her relationship with Jeremy was also a direct result of the supernatural.

The next day at work Bonnie was extremely distracted, to say the least. Due to her accident and losing so much time for rehab, she had resigned from her former job of being a paralegal. Her intention had always been to return to that line of work, until she found out that the law firm she was employed by was owned by Giuseppe Salvatore. Nope. Not gonna work for this Bonnie. She was considering going back to school to get a history or anthropology degree that would work with her current job.

At the moment, she was one of the handful of employees that worked for Elijah. He had a small book store that not only specialized in the finding and selling of rare books, but they also worked to restore and sometimes translate archaic documents and tomes. Bonnie's Latin and passable ancient Greek was much appreciated and put to good use. It was a small shop, but had already garnered an outstanding reputation through word of mouth.

Katherine had used her public relations know how, and tech-savvy ways to create a website in order to give the business room to grow. Elijah had been hesitant at first, but Katherine had convinced him that he would be able to reach a wider circle of people, which in turn would yield more projects down the road. Bonnie had been hoping to come across some Grimoires, or what passed for Grimoires in this world, but so far no luck.

She was currently working on translating something from what looked like to be around 1 B.C. It looked like a love triangle gone bad, but Bonnie could just not focus. She considered going to her friends, but asking "how do you show someone you like them, without sacrificing your magic or your life?" seemed like it would be met with a few questions.

* * *

In the end, it was her father of all people that gave her the idea. Rudy Hopkins was passing through town and wanted to see how his daughter was doing. Bonnie was really not interested in in spending an evening in awkward conversation with someone who was basically a stranger, but decided to play the dutiful daughter for one night.

When they pulled up in front of Vera's, Bonnie wanted to scream. Of _course_ her father made reservations at the restaurant that the Parkers owned. Of _course_ Kai would have seen her father's name, and of _course_ he took it upon himself to personally greet them. Much like with her grandmother, Bonnie hung back watching her father and Kai interact. Not that if Rudy disapproved, she wouldn't be with Kai, but it would be so much easier if everyone got along.

Once they were seated at their table, and handed their menus, Kai hovered next to Bonnie's chair while he listed the specials.

"When did you put potato salad on the menu?" Bonnie broke in.

"Oh, that's something new we're trying." Kai didn't even break stride.

Bonnie side-eyed him before placing her order, "And the salad dressing-."

"On the side. Jeez, Bon. Exactly how long have I been feeding you? I know what you like." Kai rolled his eyes before walking off. Bonnie watched him walk away, not bothering to hide the smile on her face.

"I remember seeing him at the hospital."

Hearing her father's voice brought Bonnie back to reality. "Oh?" She took a sip of water.

"Yes, he was there quite a bit if I remember correctly. He also used to stop by Sheila's and drop off food, didn't he?" Her father was hinting at something, but Bonnie was not rising to the bait.

"Yeah, he and Grams get along great. So what's going on with you?" Blessedly her dad went along with the subject change and started talking about the perks and perils of being a pharmaceutical rep. Bonnie had pretty much tuned him out when she heard him mention Elena's name.

"What?" She couldn't have heard that right.

"I ran into Elena earlier, she mentioned she had invited you to her baby shower. I didn't realize you two were…..speaking again." Rudy shifted in his chair.

"We're not." Bonnie replied curtly.

Her father searched her eyes for a minute, before visibly exhaling. "Good."

"Good?"

"Any one that could stab you in the back like that once, most likely won't hesitate to do it again." He reached across the table to grab Bonnie's hand. "I know I missed a lot, and what I didn't miss, I didn't say anything about. Please never doubt that I love you, and I'm so proud of the woman you've become."

Bonnie wanted to yank her hand back, stand up, and yell that his daughter had died waiting to hear some version of what he just said. But what good would that do now? He was here, trying to make amends, so Bonnie would try as well. She squeezed his hand and choked out a watery "I love you, too" then excused herself to the ladies room.

After fixing her face, she returned to the table and proceeded to actually have a pleasant dinner with her dad. During dessert, Bonnie was telling him about Stefan's upcoming showing at Nik's gallery. Rudy had a thoughtful look on his face, "We haven't had a gallery here in a long time. Last one I can think of was back in the 90's, when-" He broke off suddenly.

"When what?" Bonnie asked, curious.

"When your mom invited me to go with her. She knew a few of the artists that were showing their work, and invited me." He smiled fondly.

Bonnie looked down at her tiramisu, she had had enough of an emotional night with her dad, she wasn't going to touch the whole Abby issue, except for one part: "Did you like the fact that she took charge and asked you out?" She didn't look up from her dessert, waiting on him to respond. When the silence stretched on, she looked up to find him smiling at her.

"It changed my world, Bunny."

Hearing the nickname that both her father's once called her made Bonnie want to burst into tears. It was a start. "Okay."

Dessert finished, father and daughter made small talk until a waiter came by to see if they needed anything else, "No thank you, we had a great meal, we're ready for the check." Rudy requested.

"Oh sir, your check has already been taken care of. Have a lovely evening." The waiter smiled and moved to another table.

"I really like this place, great service." Rudy said cheekily. Bonnie felt her face heat, and pushed her dad towards the exit. On their way to retrieve their coats, Bonnie slowed when passing by the hallway that led to the manager's office. Rudy noticed she was no longer by his side and turned to see her looking at a closed door. Bonnie looked at her father, then the door, and took a deep breath.

"Changed your world?"

"Absolutely, for the better. I'll wait in the car."

* * *

*Knock, knock*

 _'_ _Please don't let me screw this up, please don't let me screw this up'_ Bonnie mentally chanted.

"Come in." That was Kai's distracted voice.

"Hey" Bonnie stuck her head in. "You busy?"

"No, what's up? Was something wrong with your food?" Kai stood and made his way over to the door.

Bonnie shook her head, "No, everything was amazing as usual. My dad is getting the car, I just wanted to drop in and say thanks."

"You're welcome. I know you don't get to see your dad that often, and wanted to make sure you guys had a nice night." He shrugged, settling on the edge of his desk.

"Well, mission accomplished."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah. He really likes this place. I told him the management is a bit sketchy but, he doesn't seem to care." She gave an exaggerated shrug.

Kai laughed, "Well maybe I was just trying to score some points."

Bonnie stepped forward, "I think you already have. He mentioned that he remembered seeing you at the hospital."

"He must have a good memory, cause there were a lot of people there to see you." He tried to deflect.

"Maybe, but he also mentioned seeing you when you dropped off food for me and Grams."

"Well, that was mostly my dad's doing. You know how he likes to feed people-" Yep, that was definitely a blush. Kai Parker was blushing, seeing that gave Bonnie the confidence to continue.

"You're going to Stefan's showing right?" Bonnie asked.

"What?" The switch in topics threw Kai for a minute.

"Stefan's showing? You're going right?" At his nod, Bonnie took a deep breath ' _change your world, Bennett'._

"Do you wanna go with me?" Bonnie asked, now standing flush against the desk he was still sitting on.

"Go with you?"

"As my date."

"Your date?"

"Are you gonna repeat everything I say?" Bonnie huffed.

"No."

"No?" Bonnie took a step back. Kai's eyes widened as he realized she had misinterpreted his no.

"No, I mean. I'm not going to repeat everything you say." He stood and reached out to stop her from taking any more steps back. "Yes, I would love to go to Stefan's showing with you. As your date." He clarified.

Bonnie let out the breath she had been holding, "Okay. Um, I gotta go, my dad's waiting. I'll see you soon." Before she could say or do anything to ruin the moment, Bonnie turned to leave. She made it to the door before Kai called out to her. "Hey, Bon?"

"Yeah?" Bonnie stopped at the door.

"We're really doing this?"

"We're really doing this."

Back in the car, Rudy waited until Bonnie was buckled in before turning to her with a raised eyebrow. The ear to ear grin he received in return was all the confirmation he needed.

"That's my girl."

* * *

The rest of the week seemed to fly by for Bonnie. She couldn't remember the last time she got all dressed up for a night out, without the promise of someone dying or getting kidnapped. She reveled in the normal girly things like going shopping and worrying over how much to show.

Caroline and Rebekah were both in the "sexy not slutty" category. "You want to just give him a hint of what he could be getting, a preview, if you will." Rebekah counseled.

Katherine wanted her to put her best "ass-ets" on display. "You've got an ass that can stop traffic, Bon. I have something that I guarantee will end up on the floor."

Liv promised her bodily harm if she even thought about asking what to wear on a date with her brother, but did let slip that he loved the color green.

In the meantime, she kept focused on work. The translation she was working on was getting a little bit more interesting, apparently one of the sides of the ancient love triangle was a servant who fell in love with her boss'? mistress'? owners? (Bonnie was unsure of the correct terminology, she'd have to come back to that) fiancé. The servant and fiancé were hatching a plan to be together when it all went sideways. Bonnie looked off into the distance, there was something familiar about the story…

"Special delivery!" The overly cheerful voice breaks her out of her daze, Bonnie turns to see Luke standing there with a bouquet of what looked to be like a mixture of lilies and roses.

She is floored. This is honestly the first time anyone has ever given her flowers….and they haven't even actually gone out yet! Luke's happy smile starts to fade when he realizes that Bonnie is still just sitting there mouth open, gaping at the bouquet (that's honestly starting to get just a tad bit heavy).

"Okay I'll just put these here." He quickly sets the vase on Bonnie's desk and hesitantly asks "What's wrong? Do you not like the color? Oh my god, you're allergic! I _told_ him to make sure before he went ahead and bought it." Luke is pulling out his phone, probably getting ready to chew out his older brother, when Bonnie snatches the phone out of his hands.

"No I'm not allergic, I love them!" She stares at the flowers, "This is the first time I've ever gotten flowers from someone." She sheepishly admits.

Luke frowns, "Damon never gave you flowers?" And oh shit, Bonnie forgot about him. "Well, flowers that I like." She amends quickly, handing his phone back to him before burying her face in the flowers and breathing deep.

"Okay, I'm just gonna go now. I'll leave you to your flowers, I'll let Kai know you liked them." Luke departed, but Bonnie barely noticed.

* * *

Deciding on what to wear had been a bitch, but Bonnie thought she had done a great job. Her dress was a forest green, knee length, halter dress. From the front it looked very modest and ideal for an evening out.

The back, however.

The dress was completely backless. There was no ass crack showing, or risqué side boob action, but from the top where the halter looped around her neck, to her lower back was nothing but skin. Bonnie prayed that the weather would cooperate with her tonight. Her hair was in a simple updo and with the addition of earrings and a silver bracelet, she was ready to go.

She and Kai had decided to meet up at her place and take one vehicle over. She was in the middle of trying to decide where to put the flowers he gave her when she heard him knock. Making her way to the door, she gave herself a quick pep talk before opening the door and feeling her jaw drop for the second time that day.

Kai Parker knew how to wear the hell out of a suit. What would have normally been an all-black ensemble was saved by his white shirt with the top button undone, forgoing a tie for the evening.

"Do I pass inspection?" He did a quick turn and Bonnie laughed, thankful that he was still acting like his normal self.

"I guess you'll do." Bonnie was grateful that her voice held none of the nervousness that she felt. "Let me get my coat and purse and we'll be out." She left the door and did a deliberate slow turn to retrieve her things. Hearing the sharp inhale, told Bonnie that she made the right choice in attire.

After buttoning her coat and ensuring the door was locked (there would be no more unwanted visitors) she took Kai's offered arm and they made their way to his car.

"So can I ask if you wore that for me? Because I totally approve if you did, and I would definitely not oppose any other outfits like that." Bonnie laughed.

"You wish, Parker."

Stefan's showing was a huge success.

He had been all over the world, taking pictures of various people and places. His talent was evident in how respectful and lovingly he portrayed his subjects. Bonnie would love to say she took notice of everything on display, but that would be a straight up lie. She was majorly distracted by Kai's presence, he was charming, attentive, and very much a gentleman.

He was also incapable of keeping his hands to himself.

A stroke here, a light touch there, and on one occasion, he had spread his hand across her back under the guise of guiding her out of the way of one of the waiters who were moving about the room with hors d'oeuvre. He had kept his hand there even after the waiter had gone by and even after he had removed it, she could still feel the imprint.

Bonnie was really starting to re-think the whole backless dress thing.

She was currently standing in front of a picture taken on the island of Santorini in Greece. Something about the picture drew her in, and Bonnie was seriously considering sweet talking Stefan into selling it to her when she felt a hand ghost across her back.

However, unlike the welcome touch of Kai's hand, which made her want to melt in a puddle, this touch made her want to start swinging.

"Looking good Bon Bon."

"Why are you here, Damon?" Bonnie twisted from his touch and turned to face him head on. She couldn't believe he was arrogant enough to crash his brother's premiere. Looking around, she quickly spotted Elena sitting at a nearby table chatting with Jenna and Alaric. "Are you two serious right now?" Bonnie was livid. "If you do anything to mess this up for your brother, I swear-"

"Easy, we were invited." Damon took a sip of what Bonnie assumed was bourbon. A change in worlds doesn't mean a change in drinking habits she supposes.

"You were invited? You BOTH were invited?" Bonnie asked disbelievingly, looking around for Stefan.

"Yes. I know you'd rather we both be stranded on a deserted island, but lucky for us, not everyone has your judgey little attitude." Damon was smug.

"Actually no. I don't wish you were both stranded on a deserted island." Bonnie could see Damon start to grin. "I don't wish that, because that would be giving you too much thought. I don't think about you Damon. Ever." Bonnie gestured at her ex, "I bet you got all dressed up tonight thinking 'I'm gonna see Bonnie and make some sort of lame ass quip or remark and everything will fall back into place, right? That I'd see you both here together and that _I'd_ be the one leave because I was still heartbroken?"

Bonnie shook her head. "Wanna know what I was thinking about when I was getting dressed? I was thinking, 'I hope tonight goes well for Stefan'. I was thinking 'I hope I don't fall in these shoes'." She stepped closer to Damon. "I was thinking 'I hope Kai likes this dress', because I chose it with him in mind. I sure as shit wasn't thinking about you."

"You don't have to be a bitch." Damon spat out.

"Apparently I do, because that seems to be the only thing you understand. You say Stefan invited you, fine. Why aren't you with him working on your relationship? Or sitting next to your _wife_?" Bonnie made sure to stress the last word. "You blew up both your relationships in order to be together, and now that your brother is handing you an olive branch, you're still not taking it?"

"Drink?" Kai made his presence known, holding two glasses of champagne.

"Thanks." Bonnie flashed him a grateful smile, and without another word, looped her arm in with Kai's and walked off.

"So that looked intense." Kai probed.

"He needed a reality bitch-slap. One that I am always ready to give. I can get why Stefan invited them, he will be the uncle to their kid, after all, but….whatever. I'm done thinking about them, they have to figure out their own path."

"Very wise."

The rest of the night was spent hanging out with their friends and congratulating Stefan on a very successful gallery showing.

The party was winding down when Bonnie found herself standing in front of the picture taken in Santorini again.

"Wanna go?" Was whispered in her ear.

"To Greece!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"Um, no. I meant get out of here, but we can do Greece."

"You'd go with me to Greece?" Bonnie asked.

Kai raised his eyebrow, "Are you kidding? You in a bikini, nice sandy beaches, fruity cocktail drinks with the little umbrella, hold on." He fumbled in his pocket for his phone.

"What are you doing?

"Checking for flights, if we leave now we can be sipping Ouzo in only 12 hours from now." Kai wagged his phone in front of Bonnie.

"Let's keep that on table for later." Bonnie ran her hand down his arm to link her fingers with his.

Kai smile, "Later it is, then."


	6. New Beginnings

'I love lazy days', Bonnie thinks.

She's currently lying in bed, snuggled under a very comfortable duvet with absolutely nothing on the agenda for today but to relax. Distantly she heard movement in the kitchen. Sweeping a hand across the bed, she finds the other side already cool, letting her know that Kai had been up for a while.

Ever since their official first date a month ago, the two had established a rhythm that was all their own. Kai's work schedule didn't really allow for the normal Friday/Saturday night for date night, so the two had to be creative in their endeavors to spend time together. He had worked last night, but had the next day off, so he had declared it to be a lazy day and invited her to spend the day together.

In total agreement, Bonnie told him to let her know when he woke up, but Kai surprised her and nonchalantly tossed her a key ring and told her to just swing by the night before and let herself in.

"You're giving me keys to your place?" Bonnie looked at the key ring in shock. Kai brushed it off with a dismissive hand wave.

"Well, if you really think about it, I'm doing this for myself." He wrapped his arms around her middle, resting his chin on her head. "I am not gonna wanna wake up just to let you in, so you might as well stay over." He leaned back to look her in the eyes, "unless you don't want to. I don't want to pressure you." Bonnie cut him off the fastest way she knows how, with a kiss.

Kissing Kai was fast becoming one of Bonnie's favorite things to do.

* * *

Their first kiss was the night of the showing after they left the gallery. Neither wanted the date to end, so after reaching Bonnie's apartment building, they walked to the park. The two took full advantage of the time of night to enjoy themselves. Once all their nervous energy had been expended, they found themselves on the swings talking about anything and everything.

Kai was telling her a story about how he and Jo attempted to build a treehouse on their own when they were back in Portland. Bonnie watched his face light up while he talked about his twin, and how animated he was, and again she was hit by the realization that the Kai that she knew in her old world never got to have any of the good times that this Kai did. It made her sad to know that he only knew distance and disdain.

Shaking off the dark thoughts that cropped up, she swung herself over to his swing and grabbed the chain. He stopped talking and reached out to grab her chain in return.

"Hi."

"Hi."

She's not sure who moves first, but it doesn't matter because in the span of a heartbeat, he's less than an inch from her face, nose brushing against hers. Then his lips are on hers and her mind goes wonderfully blank. Kai is gentle, deliberately keeping the kiss light, but Bonnie has had enough of waiting.

She pulls away and stands from the swing, ignoring Kai's confused look. She walks over to stand in front of him and with him still sitting in the swing, she only has to lean down a little bit to frame his face in her hands and continue where they left off. This kiss is more aggressive and Bonnie feels Kai respond immediately. As her tongue slides against his, his hands reach out to slide over her thighs to barely graze her ass before moving to stroke the heated skin on her back. She responds in kind by sliding her hands into his hair and tugging softly. His low groan feeds her hunger and she feels him rake his nails lightly down her bare back.

She breaks away to take in air while he peppers kisses down her neck. Bonnie tilts her head to give him easier access, and even though there are warning bells ringing in her ear about this not being the right place, she doesn't want this moment to end.

He hits a particularly sensitive part of her neck and she shudders, which seems to spur him on more. He reaches up into her hair and all of a sudden, all the hard work Bonnie had done to put her hair up was for naught, because her hair is falling around them. He uses his grip on her hair to direct her movements, angling her head so he can deepen the kiss, his tongue hot and demanding as it explores.

They break apart, gasping for breath. He leans his forehead against hers and whispers "damn." Bonnie laughs breathlessly, "yeah."

* * *

Reluctantly rising, she made her way to the bathroom to freshen up. She wondered if she could talk Kai into going to the grill for breakfast. Or, as she checked the clock, brunch. Entering the kitchen she stood and watched as added ingredients into a mixing bowl and reached for what looked like Challah bread.

"Are you making French toast?" She asked excitedly.

Kai turned around and pointed a wooden spoon at her, "You were not supposed to be up yet, but since you are, you have to be my assistant now."

"Answer the question, is that French toast? Are you making a lazy day breakfast?" Bonnie walked over and embraced him from behind.

"Maybe." He turned back to the bowl and began mixing what looked like whipped cream. Bonnie placed a kiss on his back before asking if there was anything she could help with. He pointed her towards another bowl that she hadn't seen that was filled with a mixture of strawberries and blackberries and asked her to wash and cut them so they could be stuffed into the French toast.

Settling herself on one of the stools, she began her task, thinking back to when she first mentioned her 'lazy day breakfast' to Kai.

* * *

*TWO MONTHS AGO

"Is this hell, did I die?" Caroline panted.

"Probably. Here give me your arm." Rebekah gestured to Caroline, reaching down to help her stand.

"I think I'm dehydrated. I haven't sweat this much since I convinced Elijah to try a little X. That man was like the energizer bunny -"

"OKAY!" Bonnie interrupted Katherine for Rebekah's sake, who was starting to look a bit green. "Come on, guys. This isn't that bad! Look around you, it's a beautiful day." Bonnie tried to interject a bit of joviality, but looking around, she knew it was a lost cause.

"Fine. We don't have to do the whole trail today. Let's pack it in and start heading back." Bonnie relented. That got a rousing cheer and a sense of renewed energy as the foursome made their way down one of the many hiking trails that ran through Mystic Falls.

Bonnie had talked them into doing a little early morning hiking. She had asked Liv to come as well, and the blonde had almost agreed, but when Bonnie mentioned it would have to happen before 8 on a Sunday…..

She was very grateful for her physical therapist's recommendation that she work on her speed and reflexes.

The struggling group reached their vehicles and were tentatively making plans to meet up for dinner that night when Caroline pointed at another vehicle in the parking lot.

"Hey, Kai's here." They all turned to see the man in question leaning against his SUV talking to a dark haired woman who was facing away from them. They were both dressed in workout clothes and it looked like they had just arrived.

"Who's he with?" Rebekah asked, always one for juicy gossip.

"Come on guys, let's not get all up in his business." Bonnie attempted to redirect their attention, but it was too late.

"Let me see if I can get a good picture." Katherine pulled her ever-present phone out and zoomed in on the unsuspecting woman. "She's got a nice ass…..not as nice as yours though, Bon."

Bonnie startled, "Thanks, why would I care about that?"

Katherine rolled her eyes, still focusing on the mystery brunette. "Oh I'm sorry, are we still pretending that you don't have the hots for Paul Rudd Jr over there?"

"Or that he would, as they say 'drink your dirty bathwater'"? Rebekah chimed in.

"Please don't ever say that again." Bonnie begged, instead of focusing on what was just said. She had finally come to grips with the fact that this Kai was not _her_ Kai. He didn't show any signs of snapping and shoving a hunting knife in her stomach, or shooting her with an arrow. This Kai was actually fun to be around, and Bonnie has spent a lot of time cataloguing the differences between the two men.

"I'm gonna go over there and say hi." Caroline starts to move in that direction before Bonnie grabs her arm. "No you are not, let him have one morning without our interrupting." She tugs Caroline back to her side.

"Aren't you curious to see who she is?" Caro asks.

"No."

"Liar."

Before Bonnie can stop her, Katherine yelled across the parking lot. "Hey Parker!" He leans to the side and throws up a hand in acknowledgement. He speaks to the mystery brunette who shrugs and turns to follow Kai over to the group. Bonnie turns her attention to packing up their (minimal) gear, but she can still hear the others talking.

"Cute face, pretty eyes." Rebekah judges.

"A little lacking in the boob department." Caroline inputs.

"I wouldn't do her." At Katherine's declaration, Bonnie whirls back around to tell her to shut up, but the words are caught in her throat when she realizes just who is walking with Kai.

Nora Hildegard is as small and delicate looking in this world as she had been in Bonnie's old world, absentmindedly she wonders if Mary-Louise is running around here as well.

"Good Morning ladies. I didn't know you were hikers." Kai greeted, tongue in cheek, knowing full well that none of them were normally up and about at this time of day.

Caroline pointed accusingly at Bonnie, "Blame her. She got a wild hair up her ass and talked us all into it."

Bonnie blushed and ducked her head, "I just thought it would be a nice change from the norm."

"Well, I love a good hike in the morning. Wakes up the blood." Nora interjected, Bonnie shot her a grateful smile. "Well, I don't know how woke our blood is this morning, we barely made it a mile in."

Nora edged a little closer to Bonnie, "I'm sure you did great," She encouraged, "It's better to start small and then work your way up to the more challenging trails."

"Thanks, but I think this will be the last time we attempt to commune with nature." Bonnie held out her hand, "I'm Bonnie, that's Rebekah, Caroline, and Katherine."

"I'm Nora."

"Here for a vacation? Or to visit anyone in particular?" Katherine asked sweetly.

"Oh, I'm an aspiring food critic and Malachai has so graciously offered his restaurant as a training ground." Nora gushed.

"Yes, that Malachai is so gracious like that." Rebekah smiles. "I just love to hear another English accent, where are you from?" The two break off to talk about England and how it compares to the States and what they miss about their home country.

"Malachai, huh?" Katherine sashayed over. "You two seem very close for colleagues."

"I didn't know you let just anyone call you by your full name." Caroline added. Kai rolled his eyes and looked to Bonnie as if to say "you too?" Bonnie shrugged and leaned back against the car. She knew more than likely, Nora and Kai were not a thing, but she always liked seeing Kai squirm.

"I don't. We go way back, our families are longtime friends in Portland. When she mentioned wanting some experience, I suggested she come out here since she knows us." Kai explained.

"She seems nice, you guys have fun." Bonnie said, deciding to throw him a life line. "We should probably get going, we've obviously failed in our hiking attempts, and honestly I want to head home, get my lazy day breakfast and just chill."

"What's your 'lazy day breakfast'?" Kai asked.

"The grill makes an awesome French toast, it's stuffed with whatever berry is in season, with this amazing cinnamon whipped cream topping. It comes with scrambled eggs and bacon, but I usually save that for when I come down from my sugar high." Bonnie was salivating just thinking about it.

Kai frowned, "You know, it's not hard to make that yourself, why go to the grill?"

Bonnie snorted, "Because I _don't_ have to make it for myself. That's the 'lazy' part of the lazy day breakfast, someone else makes it for me."

"But you can do all the prep the night before and you've got all that nice kitchen stuff now," Kai hinted.

"Yeah, thanks for that, but the only way that's gonna happen is if some generous soul were to use all that nice kitchen stuff to make it for me." Bonnie didn't budge.

"Is that a request?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Is that an offer?" Bonnie shot back.

"Is that my kale smoothie coming back up?" Katherine made a gagging noise.

"Oh! I've been meaning to ask, what do you put in yours? Cause mine just tastes like grass and disappointment." Caroline interjected. The two of them broke off to talk smoothies, leaving just Kai and Bonnie.

"Are you offering to make me breakfast?" Bonnie asked for clarification.

"Only on the condition that you be my helper." He moved closer into her space, and smiled down at her.

* * *

Bonnie snapped back to the present, Kai was talking about having to take a trip back out to Portland the following month. Even though the Parkers had lived in Mystic Falls for a good while, their roots were still in Oregon, and a good chunk of their wine came from the local vineyards there. Since Joshua was grooming Kai to eventually take over the restaurant in Mystic Falls, he wanted his son to get used to dealing with the business side of the house. That meant meeting with distributers, negotiating prices, and so on.

"That should be fun, it's been a while since you've been back, right?" Bonnie was concentrating on not cutting herself, so she missed the nervous look Kai shot her way.

"Yeah, almost a year I think." He fiddled with the bowl for a bit before turning to where she was sitting. "You wanna come with me?"

Bonnie looked up in surprise, "You want me to come with you?"

"It's a quick trip, just a few days. I figure I can stack my meetings all in one day, then I'll be able to show you around. You'll get to visit a few of the better vineyards that Portland has to offer." Bonnie sat in silence, still holding the knife poised to slice.

"I mean, you don't have to tell me now. I know you have to clear it with Elijah, and I don't know if you're working on something big." Kai started to ramble.

"What dates?" Bonnie inquired.

"Um, the 19th through the 21st. But like I said, I know you have to check with your boss, so if you can't go, then that's fine." Turning back to the stove, he busied himself with cutting pockets in the Challah bread in preparation for the fruits that would go inside, but Bonnie could still see the tense line of his shoulders.

She gathered the now somewhat unevenly cut fruit into a separate bowl and placed it right next to the griddle. "I'll go."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I've never been to the West Coast, and from the way you, Jo, and your dad talk about it, it seems like an awesome place. Plus, wine. Lots and lots of wine." He leaned down and kissed her softly as if to thank her for agreeing. She ran her hands over his stubble, returning his kiss before stepping back and redirecting his attention.

"Feed me."

Later, after they had eaten their fill of french toast and they were laying on the couch in the midst of their Resident Evil movie marathon, Kai broached the subject again.

"Don't you need to check with Elijah about taking those days off?" He questioned. Between feeling comfortably full and Kai's hand stroking her back, she was feeling drowsy, and answered absentmindedly. "Nah, I already took those days off."

"What for?"

"Hmm?" Bonnie watched as Milla Jovovich battle zombies and wondered if she'd ever looked that bad-ass while battling vampires.

"You said you took those days off already, what for?" That broke through her post good food and lady ass kicking haze.

"Elena's baby shower is on the 20th." She kept her eyes fixed firmly on the television. "I'd already had tentative plans to just go away for a few days anyway." She shrugged, not wanting to make it a big deal. They both watched the screen for a few more minutes, but neither was actively focusing on what was playing.

"Fine." Bonnie paused the movie, apparently they were going to have to talk about this right now. "I didn't want to be here, not because I'm jealous, but because I just don't want to deal with everyone looking at me and expecting me to break down." She pulled away and sat up facing him as he leaned against the arm of the couch.

"As clichéd as this sounds, it feels like all that happened to another person. I don't have any residual romantic feelings for Damon. I'm not secretly wishing he will leave his pregnant wife and come back to me." She wrapped her hand around his ankle that was lying near her. "I don't want him. Please tell me you believe that."

Kai surges forward, "I do." He takes her hands in his, hesitating for a second before continuing, "It's just that…..I can accept that you are over your ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend getting together behind your back. But a baby, Bon. That's a huge thing, are you sure you've really dealt with it?"

Once again, Bonnie feels like the biggest fraud in the world, because here Kai is trying to make sure she's truly okay and saying all the right things, and she wants to burst into tears. Kai sees her eyes start to water, and gathers her close, saying all sorts of nonsensical things. They sit like that for a while, until Bonnie is sure her urge to spill all has passed.

She pulls away to look at Kai. "I've dealt with it. It wasn't the right time, it wasn't the right _person_." She stressed the last word. "I was in no position to handle a kid, I know that now. I think it was a last ditch effort to hang on to something that I knew was dying. I'm used to people leaving and me not being able to hold on to them, so I naively thought that a kid would be an anchor." Bonnie said haltingly, hoping that she wasn't doing her other self an injustice by telling a few of her secrets.

Kai nodded in understanding. "I used to watch you, you know? I would watch you and wonder how he could not see what he was doing to you, and then I'd wonder how you couldn't see how he was not worth it." He looked down at where their hands were joined and ran his thumb over her fingers. "I'm not saying we'll never argue, but I swear, I'll never treat you like that."

Bonnie brought their joined hands up to press a kiss to the back of his hand. "I know that, and I trust you. The reason I waited so long to act was because I wanted to make sure that I gave myself time to heal, inside and out. I didn't want you to think you were a rebound, or a way to make anyone jealous, because you're not. I'm all in, we're really doing this. Okay?"

"Okay." Using their joined hands he pulled her in for what started out as a quick kiss, but quickly escalated into a heated make out session. Bonnie was straddling Kai with her fingers buried in his hair, while he had one hand firmly planted on her ass, as the other found its way inside her shirt and he was working his magic on her neck.

Bonnie was having a very hard time remembering why she wanted to wait. The most the two had done was some under the shirt action, complete with a little grinding. Sleeping next to Kai last night was a new experience for her, and as much as she like the closeness of just sleeping with someone, other parts of her were raring to go.

She was halfway to suggesting they move this into the bedroom when they were interrupted by a loud knocking on the door.

"Knock, knock, lovebirds." Liv's voice is unmistakable.

Bonnie thinks she actually whimpers as Kai stops his ministrations on her neck. He drops his head to rest against her collarbone, "maybe she'll go away" he mumbles against her skin. Bonnie presses a kiss against his crown, and scrapes her nails against his scalp. He's placing tiny kisses along her collar when Liv interrupts again, "Put some clothes on and let us in, we have a key, we will use it!"

Bonnie collapses in a fit of giggles as Kai storms over to the door, whipping it open already preparing to chew Liv out, but is stopped by seeing his twin and younger brother standing there as well.

"Nice to see you too, little brother." Bonnie hears Jo say. She turns to watch Kai's twin brushes by Kai with Liv following. Bonnie can see Luke sheepishly trailing the two. "I'd like it to be on record that I strenuously objected to this."

"What exactly is 'this'?" Kai asks. The rest of the Parker clan spreads out on the couch and armchair, leaving Kai to find a seat on the floor.

"Dad wants to invite Bonnie over for a getting to know you dinner." Liv reveals gleefully. Kai flops on his back muttering something to himself.

"Your dad already knows me." Bonnie said slowly.

"He knows you as one of the kids that's always around, not as the girl who's dating his son." Jo explains.

"Say no, Bonnie. You know he already likes you." Kai says, still laying on the floor.

"I can't say no!" Bonnie threw a pillow at Kai. "That would be rude. Do you think your dad will make his awesome oxtail?" She asks to no one in particular.

"What oxtail?" Luke asks.

"Dad doesn't do oxtail." Jo confirms.

"No, he does. Liv, remember you told me..." She trails off as she realizes that not only is Kai currently hiding his face underneath the pillow she threw at him earlier, but Liv has a shit-eating grin on her face. "Oh."

Jo and Luke are not too far behind, easily figuring it out as well. The siblings all exchange a look, then as one jump on an unsuspecting Kai.

Bonnie watches the siblings wrestle around on the floor, envious of their bond. As much as Kai grumbled and complained about how much his family was in his business, she knows he loves them regardless.


	7. Truth and Consequences

"You're already taking trips together." Caroline sing-songed, while doing a little dance around the kitchen. Bonnie was currently keeping Caroline company while she baked an assortment of cookies to hand out at the town picnic for her mom's re-election campaign. Initially all the girls were supposed to help, but Rebekah had suddenly remembered some vague plans she had with Matt, and while Katherine was in attendance, she was upfront with not wanting to do anything that would ruin her manicure.

Liv was supposedly 'on her way' but that was 2 hours ago.

So the three of them had taken over the Mikealson kitchen, with it being the biggest one available. The second batch was cooling, and Caroline was in the middle of mixing the third when Bonnie dropped the trip to Portland bomb.

"It's not that kind of trip, Care. He has to go for the restaurant, and I was already taking those days off, so why not?" Bonnie tried to downplay it.

"Are you gonna finally…" Katherine trailed off and wiggled her eyebrows. Both Katherine and Caroline were the only ones that knew Bonnie hadn't done the deed with Kai yet. Bonnie had started to explain why but, in a show of maturity and wisdom, Katherine had stopped her and told Bonnie that it wasn't her business why, and if it was what Bonnie wanted, then it was the right choice.

Bonnie couldn't help the blush that swept her face at what Katherine implied with her expertly sculpted eyebrows.

"OHMYGOD!" Caroline shrieked, grabbing the edge of the counter.

"Care, shut up!" Bonnie shushed her, looking around to see if any of the house's other occupants heard her.

"Oh my god." Caroline whispered. "My little Bonnie is all grown up!"

Katherine eyed Bonnie, "We need to go shopping. I know you don't really care for lingerie, but we'll stay away from the trashy stuff, I promise."

"You, stay away from trashy? Not possible." The remark was made in a teasing tone. Bonnie hurried over to help Finn's wife Sage enter and get her settled at one of the tables that took up space in the massive kitchen. Sage smiled gratefully at Bonnie and sighed. At 8 months 2 weeks pregnant, she was more than ready to give birth.

"I am so ready for this damn kid to get out." She leaned back in her special maternity chair that Finn bought specially for her, and propped her feet up on the accompanying stool, while making grabby hands for a few cookies. Bonnie dutifully placed a few on a plate and brought it over to Sage, taking a seat near her in case she needed anything else.

"Who needs lingerie?" She asked while munching on a snickerdoodle.

Bonnie ducked her head, she liked Sage, but was never one to put her business out for everyone to know. Being pregnant hadn't dulled Sage's keen eye, though. Her gaze shifted to over to Bonnie and observed how she suddenly found the plate interesting and a wicked smile lit across her face.

"Bonnie! You're gonna finally hit that?" She asked gleefully.

"Say what, now?" Granted, she hadn't spent that much time around Sage, but she always struck Bonnie as a bit uptight and proper, much like Finn presented himself.

Katherine and Caroline started laughing, "Oh that's right, you haven't been introduced to horny and hormonal Sage." Kat snickered.

"She popped up a few weeks ago, and we've ALL been paying the price since then." Caroline added wryly.

"Whatever Blondie, you're the one I caught giving Nik a hand job in the study if I remember correctly." Sage shot back. "And the only reason I'm "horny and hormonal" she air-quoted, "is because my fine ass husband won't give me any anymore. He's scared he'll poke the baby somehow."

"Well how else do you expect to get dimples?" Katherine laughed to herself.

"Yes, I'm going to hit that!" Bonnie desperately wanted to change the subject.

"Ooh when and where?" Sage grabbed for more cookies while she got comfortable. "And spare no details, I need to live vicariously through you."

"Well I can share-"

"NO!" Katherine's offer was cut short by everyone in the kitchen. Sage even threw a piece of her precious snickerdoodle at her, then motioned for Bonnie to continue.

"Um, we're going to Portland for a few days and I figured what better time and place, right?" Head nods all around. "I'm just a little nervous."

"About what kiddo?" Sage softened her tone. "That boy is crazy about you, we all see it."

"And your body is banging." Katherine added helpfully.

"Yeah, that's one of the things. I've got a few scars from the accident, and they're not like, horrible, but.." Bonnie trailed off.

"Oh, Bonnie, he's not gonna even notice." Caroline soothed, "Trust me, he's gonna be so stoked that he finally has the girl of his dreams in his bed-"

"In his bed, on a couch, on the floor. Oh, against the wall is always good too. Well, it was good." Sage glared down at her protruding belly. "I miss sex." She said wistfully before coming back to the conversation.

"Listen to Blondie, that boy is so far gone, he'll be thanking every deity that ever existed that you even let him see you naked, and that's not just the hormones talking." She smoothed a piece of hair behind Bonnie's ear and that gesture had Bonnie fighting past the lump in her throat.

Wherever Abby was in this world, Bonnie wondered if she ever felt like part of her was missing. Sage wasn't even related to her, but possessed a maternal warmth that made Bonnie want to stay by her side.

"You're gonna be a great mom." She whispered. Sage's eyes started welling, "Goddammit." Before anyone knew it, she was crying in her cookies. Which set off Bonnie, and Caroline in turn.

"Of course you bitches would ruin my make-up." Katherine complained, frantically blinking her eyes in order to stop the tears.

"What smells so good?" Nik walked in to see four crying women. Without saying a word he turned on his heel and walked away.

* * *

The next day Katherine swooped into Elijah's shop and sweet talked him into letting Bonnie off after lunch. She claimed she needed Bonnie's expertise, she didn't say on what exactly, but then again Bonnie was sure Elijah knew it was all a scam anyway.

"So what was so important that you had to bust me out of work?" Bonnie asked. Katherine just smiled and continued to drive. Soon enough, they pulled up to a non-descript building just outside the city limits. Katherine handed her keys to the valet and ushered Bonnie inside.

 _-Been kidnapped by Kat. If you don't hear from me in 2 hours, COME FIND ME!_

 _-And give up the opportunity to have the bed to myself again?_

 _-Do you want to continue to sleep alone? Cause this is how you can continue to sleep alone._

 _-2 hours, check!_

Bonnie was unaware of the goofy smile she wore as she texted Kai. Katherine roller her eyes, "If I didn't love the both of you, I'd be plotting your demise." Looping her arm through Bonnie's she dragged her through the lobby and inside the elevator. Once inside she pressed the button for the fourth floor which was..

"What the hell is La Belle Femme?" Bonnie demanded as the doors opened into what looks like a high end boutique.

"Now this is what I'm talking about. C'mon Bon Bon, I'm sure we'll be able to find something that will make Kai's jaw drop!"

"Oh my god."

2 hours and a few hundred dollars (Katherine), a hundred or so (Bonnie) later, the two giggled their way out of the building.

"I can't believe Sage of all people had the hook-up! How did we not know about this place?" Bonnie asked incredulously.

"I'm telling you, that woman has all kinds of secrets. Makes me wonder about Finn." Kat murmured as she perused through her purchases. Shaking her head, Bonnie thinks about the Finn in her world. The small amount of time she spent with him prior to his murder/suicide attempt definitely did not jive with the Finn she met here.

Not that she knew him very well, but he did come across as very reserved. So to hear Sage go on (and on) about his prowess in the bedroom, was a bit jarring. But then again, maybe it was an elder Mikealson thing. Both Elijah and their father Mikeal both appeared prim and proper, but according to Katherine's many stories, Elijah was anything but in the bedroom.

And Esther did have 6 kids…

Nope. That was dangerous territory. "I'm hungry, let's eat." Bonnie pulled Katherine in the direction of a cute little café down the block.

* * *

They were halfway through their meals when Katherine's phone suddenly started playing the 'Wicked Witch of the West' theme music. She hit ignore with a roll of her eyes, and went back to her pasta salad, but it just rang again and again.

"Might as well pick-up, she's not gonna stop." Bonnie advised.

'WHAT?" Katherine's voice was whip sharp. Bonnie had learned that much like in her world, Elena (and Katherine, although born Katerina) had been adopted by the Gilberts. Miranda and Grayson had thought themselves unable to have children, so had gone abroad and ended up with two girls from Bulgaria. No one was more shocked than they when shortly after, the Gilberts found themselves expecting a bundle of their very own, Jeremy was the surprise that nobody saw coming.

"No, I never said I'd do that." Katherine denied. "No, I didn't, that was Mom's idea." Bonnie unashamedly listened in as Katherine spoke with her sister, totally curious as to how the once doppelgängers, now twins, relationship was in this world. From the sound of it, Bonnie would guess it was not good at all.

"Who cares? It's not like anyone will notice!" Katherine's voice was increasing in volume, thank goodness there weren't a lot of people around. "Whatever, fine." It sounded like their conversation was wrapping up, thank goodness. When Katherine was in a mood, it was never good for innocent bystanders.

"I'll get to it when I get to it!" With that she hung up and tossed her phone on the table. "Kuchka." Bonnie raised her eyebrows in shock. Elena must have really set her off, Katherine tended to switch to Bulgarian when she was pissed.

"You okay?" Bonnie hesitantly asked, waiting for the usual rant about how selfish and demanding her sister was being. But to Bonnie's surprise, Katherine shook her head. "I don't wanna talk about it, let's just finish eating."

"Okay." But the fun lunch mood was ruined, both girls sat and picked at their food before Bonnie bit the proverbial bullet. "You might as well come out with it, it's gonna eat at you until you do." Bonnie prodded.

"Sometimes I hate her." Katherine spat out, before she caught Bonnie's surprised face before she relented, "okay, not HATE her, but I don't like her very much. Especially right now. She's got a million and one demands for this dumb ass baby shower. Which, I might add, I am being forced into 'co-hosting'" She held up air quotes, "and sure I'm excited about getting a niece, but everybody is treating her like the first person to ever have a damn baby." The confession burst out of Katherine like water exploding from a fire hydrant.

There was a weighted silence in the air, Bonnie was sure Kat wasn't finished. "She's ruined it." Katherine's voice was quiet.

"Ruined what, Kat?" Bonnie knew that underneath her hard shell, and devil may care attitude, that Katherine was sensitive and took a lot of things to heart.

"Her being pregnant. Me becoming an aunt. Her and I finally getting along. Pick one!" She threw up her hands. "I know Elena and I are like night and day, but the one thing that we used to agree on was that whenever one of us would get married and have kids, the other would be there. She ran off to get married, and she didn't even let me know she was pregnant. It feels like she came back just to rub it in, and now I'm expected to go all out for her? Hell no." She took a sip of water to calm down.

"I can't even voice my opinion about anything because she and mom have this new 'married and pregnant' club that obviously I'm not a part of, and mom just takes her side anyways. She's back up on her golden pedestal, and once again I'm on the outside looking in." She dabbed at her eyes with her napkin.

Bonnie switched seats to sit next to her friend and throw an arm around her shoulder, "Have you tried talking to your mom alone? She may just be wrapped up in the excitement of becoming a grandmother for the first time?"

"No, what difference would it make? She's got her golden child back, with a grandchild in the oven. Anything I say will just be construed as whining, or even worse, that I'm jealous."

"I think you're not giving Miranda enough credit. She loves you both, you know that. You just have to find your own thing with her, just like you have with Grayson and Jeremy. Something that is uniquely you two that nobody else can touch."

She had found out by accident that not only does Katherine speak Bulgarian, but Grayson and Jeremy had learned as well. Bonnie had been hanging out with Katherine when Jeremy had skyped in, and listening to the two have a perfectly flawless conversation in Kat's native language made Bonnie wonder what else was different with this worlds Jeremy.

"I think you should also try and talk to Elena too, she may not even realize that she's taking over. Getting married is a big deal, but having a kid as well? That can be overwhelming, she may be waiting on you to broach the subject." Bonnie suggested.

Katherine sniffed, then drew back in horror, "Oh God Bonnie, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to unload all that on you. You must think I'm as self-involved as she is." Bonnie laughed and pulled Katherine back in. "You're fine. I'm okay talking about this. I really am. Even though I'm not exactly happy about what or how it happened, I don't want anything bad to happen to Elena. We'll never be what we were, but maybe somewhere down the road..." She shrugged, "who knows what the future holds, but I'm not gonna waste any more time thinking about the past. I'm loving my life right now, and maybe everything that happened before happened just to get me to this place in time."

"You sound like your grandmother, you know." Katherine said.

Bonnie smiled, "Yeah I do, don't I? Well then, after that little heart to heart, in the spirit if Sheila Bennett-Brand, you know what this calls for, right?" Bonnie wiggled a little in her seat.

"DAY-DRINKING!" Both exclaimed in delight.

* * *

"Day-drinking? Bonnie Bennett-Hopkins, I have to say, I am shocked." Kai teased.

"No you're not. This is your fault, you know." Bonnie made herself comfortable on Tyler's couch.

"How is your drinking during normal business hours my fault?"

"I said two hours, and then come find me." She sat up and pointed at Kai, " _You didn't find me_ " she sang before dropping back down, completely missing his shocked face.

"What's with you?" Liv asked him as she and Tyler finished setting up the Nintendo Switch.

"You can sing?" Kai ignored Liv and regarded Bonnie as if he'd never seen her before.

"You seriously didn't know that?" Matt spoke up. "Bonnie was the reigning talent show queen from 6th grade till like sophomore year."

"What happened junior and senior year?" Liv asked.

"We don't talk about junior and senior year. Fucking Tiki." He muttered to himself.

Bonnie sat up again, "Is it set up? I'm ready to play!"

Tyler glared, "She also get supremely competitive when she's drunk."

"Okay, first of all, I'm not even drunk, just buzzed. Second, stop stalling Lockwood and get ready to take this ass whuppin."

"Is it wrong that I'm a bit turned on?" Kai wondered aloud.

* * *

 _Hella heated, I'm too ill for them to beat it_

 _We the most cheated, most weeded, most needed_

 _You best believe it_

 _Let's take the tapes, jam for me, stand for me_

 _You're damned to be without the jamboree_

 _Come on,_

 _I know I jam, I know I jam jam, well oh damn_

 _I know I jam, I know I jam jam-boree_

 _I know I jam, I know I jam jam, well oh damn_

 _Why don't you jamboree for me? Yes indeed._

 _Jam on it_

A little Naughty By Nature was never a bad thing in Bonnie's eyes, and since she was on such a high after destroying Tyler and Matt in Mario Kart, she felt the need to break out her victory song. The only reason she had even left was because she remembered she had to work the next day. Kai had driven her home and dropped her off with instructions to head directly to bed. Totally sober Bonnie would have probably said something sweet and ended the night with a chaste kiss.

Not-So-Sober Bonnie was apparently That Bitch.

The goodnight kiss she gave him left them both panting and cursing things like jobs and responsibilities. Kai pulled away bemoaning the fact that he had to work that night, while Bonnie was wondering if she could get her hands on a trench coat this late at night.

Fumbling with trying to open her door and call Katherine (she was sure Sage was asleep, didn't pregnant ladies have to sleep a lot?) She totally missed the shadow at the end of the hall until it moved.

"Well well, what do we have here? A drunk Bonnie?" Bonnie jumped a foot in the air.

"Jesus Christ! What the ACTUAL fuck Damon?" Bonnie willed her heart to stop racing. Did giving away her magic mean she had NO situational awareness? This was the second time he'd snuck up on her.

"What do you want?" She finally got the door open, all thoughts of trench coats and playing "surprise restaurant inspector" gone.

"I was in the neighborhood and decided to see what you were up to." Damon followed her in without her prompting. "Come on in." She said sarcastically.

"Don't mind if I do." He plopped down on her couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table before looking around. "You've redecorated."

"You're observant." She pushed his feet off the coffee table as she made her way to her loveseat. "Why are you here?" She asked again.

"Just wanted to hang."

"It's 8 at night, don't you have a home to hang out in?"

"The Sisters Petrova are having a heart to heart." He rolled his eyes, kicking off his shoes and relaxing on her couch. She was about to toss his shoes out the window when his words registered. "Really?"

"Yeah, Kat came by this afternoon, drunk as all get out screaming about how Elena was ruining this and that, and how she was the favorite, and some other stuff. Then Miranda joined in and" He waved a hand dismissively, "I had to escape while I still had my man card."

"So you came here?" Bonnie was confused until she thought about it. Besides Alaric, she had never seen Damon in the company of any other guy friends around town. Matt, Tyler, Mason and Luke were her friends. Kai was definitely out of the picture. Nik was Stefan's other bestie, who else did Damon have? She felt her irritation ease a little.

"Where's Alaric?" She asked gently.

"Out of town on some research trip. Which sucks because he has some top notch bourbon."

"Aren't you the king of bourbon?"

He sighed despondently, "Elena thinks that if she can't drink for 9 plus months, then I shouldn't either."

Bonnie studied him in shock. Damon without bourbon? That was just unthinkable! She blames the alcohol that she's already ingested and a sudden wave of nostalgia for her next actions.

She gets up and goes to her cupboard and pulls out her bottle of Maker's Mark. "One glass. That's it." She says sternly. He eyes the bottle in surprise. "When did you start drinking bourbon?"

 _During the four months I was stuck with the other you._ Bonnie thinks. But of course she can't tell him that. "Take it or leave it, Salvatore." He of course accepts, and that's how she finds herself sitting across from her double's ex-boyfriend listening to him talk about his life.

"…and it's not like I give a shit about what shade of pink the damn room is painted. Pink is pink right? But Elena, Miranda, and even my mother are all like 'no, it's bubblegum', it's fuckin Pepto Bismal, is what it is." He ranted.

How long is he planning on nursing that damn drink? Bonnie is asking herself when he looks over at her and smiles. "I'm glad I can still talk to you, Bon. I really missed that."

Oh Hell no.

"I'm sorry?" Bonnie could not have heard him right.

"I missed talking to you, you were always a great sounding board." He went on, oblivious to her growing fury.

Right now, at this moment, he reminded Bonnie of the earlier days with vampire Damon. He was callous, heedless of other people's feelings, and just an ass overall. Give him an inch, and he'd take a mile, and fuck if Bonnie was going to go through all that work again just to pull out the decent Damon that had finally emerged. Maybe she should have stuck with her indifference toward him and Elena. Was this one even worth it?

"I'm a great sounding board, huh? Tell me does that go both ways? Can I talk to you about how right before you showed up tonight, I was thinking about calling Kat to see if she had an extra trench coat?" Bonnie threw out casually.

"Why would you need a trench coat?" He was bewildered by the sudden change in subject.

"Oh come on Damon, you know why a woman would want a trench coat! How else are you going to get that scandalous sex feel when you visit your man at work?"

"What are you-"

"Or that the reason I was a little buzzed, not drunk, is because Kat and I spent the afternoon at this hidden boutique, where I bought some very expensive and very lacy lingerie to wear when I go to Portland with Kai?" She continued.

"I don't want to hear this!"

"Of course you don't, cause in some part of your teeny tiny self-absorbed mind, you think I still belong to you!" Bonnie shouted. "You fucked around, and I did nothing. You flaunted your relationship all around town, and I did nothing. You married my best friend, and I did nothing." She got up in his personal space. "You came back, into my home, and thought you'd pick up right where you left off, and I'd do nothing again. Not this time, not ever again. There were virtually no consequences for your actions, either one of you. You haven't done a lick of work to try and make amends."

"Hold the fuck up, yes I have. I've tried, but you always shut me out." Damon returned. "Elena invited you to her baby shower."

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? She lost your baby, and you idiots thought it would be alright to invite her to your wife's baby shower!" Bonnie was so livid, she didn't even notice her slip-up.

This guy was somehow _worse_ than other Damon, at least the vampire one had some self-awareness to him. He didn't make any bones about who or what he was, and as much as Bonnie had hated him in the beginning, she always knew where she stood with him.

This asshole, on the other hand….

"I invited you to stay because I felt sorry for you, that was my bad. You need to leave, I'm officially rescinding your invitation." The hilarity of that sentence was not lost on Bonnie, she'd laugh about it later.

"Wait. You can't say I've never tried to make amends, but then don't let me." Damon resisted.

"Fine. Exactly how do you plan on making amends?" Bonnie crossed her arms and waited for a reply. When none came, she nodded. "Yeah, I thought so. You know, I thought I was being too harsh, but now I see I was on the right track. You need to work on your relationship with your brother, he's going to be your daughter's uncle, for goodness sakes."

"I can't go to him when I have problems with Elena."

"Well, Damn Gina, I don't want you coming to me either! What is _wrong_ with you?" Bonnie maneuvered him outside and slammed the door in his face. She made it two steps before she heard a soft knock, "I need my shoes."

"Take your goddamn shoes." She opened the door and tossed them into the hallway. "And go make some other friends!" She yelled after him.

She put the half-finished bottle of bourbon back in her cupboard and headed to her bedroom.

Why couldn't she have replaced a Bonnie that was rich and didn't have to work?


	8. Small Town, Big Ears

The next day Bonnie showed up to work with a literal jug of water.

She acknowledged Elijah with a curt, "Your girlfriend is the devil." He merely inclined his head.

Bonnie settled in her office and refused to come out until almost 1 in the afternoon. When she finally resurfaced, she had made her way through a good chunk of a Latin text that was imported from somewhere in Germany. Bonnie wasn't sure what kind of contacts or colleagues Elijah had, but the caliber of the things she worked on were usually top notch.

Elijah had stepped in around noon to check on her progress, and advise her not to wear herself out, but Bonnie was on a roll. She paused at one point to make a note to speak with her grams about what classes Whitmore offered as far as languages went.

The rumbling of her stomach was what broke her out of her work haze. She dropped off what she translated so far to Elijah and told him she was going on her lunch break. He waved her off, told her to take the hour, and off to the grill she went.

While eating, she took the opportunity to check her phone. She found a few texts from Kai, which she happily returned. Jo had texted her to remind her to pick a day for the Parker Family dinner. There was also a message from a number that Bonnie didn't recognize.

-Did you find something sexy?

-Who is this?

There was a minute, then a picture of Sage balancing a glass on her stomach came through. Bonnie laughed and saved her number with the name 'Red Delicious'.

-Yeah, I found a few things. Thanks for the hook-up!

-No problem, kiddo. Somebody's gotta get some, might as well be someone who deserve it.

Bonnie snorted and continued eating, she was debating on getting a milkshake when one magically (hah!) appeared before her.

"I recognize that 'I want a milkshake' look anywhere." Stefan's voice was mocking, but Bonnie didn't care, she got her milkshake, dammit.

"This is why you're my favorite." She hummed as she took a long sip. Stefan arched a brow, "Oh really, I'm your favorite?" Bonnie pretended to think, "Well right now, anyways." The two friends chatted a bit before Stefan cleared his throat nervously. "Bon, I'm glad I got you alone, there's something I need to tell you."

"Oh man! This was a bribery milkshake, wasn't it?" Bonnie shook her head. "What did you do that I need to cover for you?" She teased, but his face stayed furrowed. Crap, this must be serious.

He took a breath, "I'm going to the baby shower….actually I'm kinda co-hosting it with Kat at the gallery." Bonnie took a slurp while she waited for him to continue. "It's not like I volunteered, or she volunteered. Our parents got together and-"

"Stef, I get it. Like I told Kat, I'm fine with it. I understand you and her are in a different spot than I am. I can pick up and leave with no strings attached. You and Kat are gonna be related, and it's not the baby's fault." Bonnie rubbed his arm. "Did you really think I'd be hateful about it?"

"No." Stefan hastened to add, "Not hateful, I just didn't want you to be blind-sided by us going."

"I'm not. Honestly, I'd already figured you'd both be going. You know how….particular your mom can be. This is her first born having her first grand-child, it was always guaranteed to be a circus." Bonnie paused and tilted her head in thought, "kinda makes me wish I was going to be here for it, Kat is gonna show out." She sniggered softly to herself.

"You're not going to be here?"

Oops, Bonnie didn't mean to let that slip. "Yeah, no. I figured it would be easier for everyone if I got ghost around that time. Don't need everyone tip-toeing around me, or declaring if they're Team Bonnie or Team Delena."

"You made up a name for them?" Stefan laughed.

"Faster than always saying both their names." Bonnie shrugged. "But seriously, it would be awkward for everyone and I did not feel like being held hostage at my place for a few days, so why not take the time for a short vacay?"

"Smart. I wish I could join you." Stefan lamented.

"I'm going to Portland with Kai." Bonnie confessed.

Stefan choked on air, "Well, there goes that thought. You kids have fun."

"Awe, thanks dad."

* * *

Pleasantly full from lunch, her afternoon passes by much in the same manor. Elijah has to damn near physically pry her from her desk. "It will be there tomorrow Bonnie, I promise."

She decides to swing by the store before heading home. She may not be the trained chef that Kai is, but thanks to her grams, she can still whip up a decent meal or two on her own. She is trying to decide between the whole wheat or regular pasta when she gets the feeling she is being watched.

Casually tilting her head to the right, she sees Lillian Salvatore standing at the end of the aisle silently watching her. Bonnie looks around to make sure she is the object of Lily's perusal, and yep, where there was once at least five other people browsing, now there's nobody else in the aisle. She even spots an employee do a u turn.

'Cowards' she thinks.

Blindly making a choice, she starts to walk towards the Salvatore matriarch. Lily's eyes regard Bonnie every step of the way.

"Good Evening, Mrs. Salvatore." Bonnie said in her nicest voice.

"Bonnie. You're looking well."

"Same to you, is that a new dress?"

"Oh no, this old thing? You're a dear for noticing." The silence was deafening and Bonnie was two seconds from throwing up a peace sign and saying screw it when to her surprise, Lily spoke again.

"I am sorry to hear you won't be attending the baby shower. It's going to be the event of the season, everyone will be there, you might find yourself short of girlfriends that weekend."

Did this woman just…what is _wrong_ with that family?

Lily must mistake Bonnie's confusion for hurt because she actually smiles as she advances towards her. "The sheriff and her daughter, and of course Esther will be attending and bringing her Rebekah, you know, the founding families all tend to support each other." Bonnie can literally see the smarm ooze off her rigid form.

That's it, throw the whole Salvatores away. Everyone, bar Stefan, was just tactless in the worst way. Or, actually, Bonnie amended. It's just that they've been allowed to do whatever it is they wanted for so long with nobody checking them, that it's gone to their heads.

Well. Bonnie Sheila Bennett has got something for that ass.

Pasting a wide smile on her face, "Oh, you are so nice to worry about little old me." Bonnie said sweetly, "you're going to make a great GRANDMOTHER." She made sure to get a little loud on the last word. "But you don't have to worry about me lacking company that weekend." Bonnie held up her hand as if to whisper a secret, but didn't bother to lower her voice at all.

"I'm going to be out of town on those days. You see, I'm going to Portland with my fine as fuck boyfriend, and I'm gonna do my best to blow his back out, or he can blow mine out, it really makes no difference. I even went and dropped a lot of money on some new lingerie so I could really blow his mind. Which reminds me" Bonnie made a show of looking in her basket and then slapping her forehead, "Silly me! I forgot the LUBE and CONDOMS! Whew, good catch. Don't wanna end up with a bun in the oven. It was lovely seeing you again Lily, we must do lunch one day and catch up on all that's been going on since your bitch of a son fucked around with my ex-best friend. Toodles."

Bonnie marched away, leaving Lily sputtering in shock. 'Good. I hope the uppity bitch chokes'. She thought as she placed her basket on the nearest conveyor line. It wasn't until she reached for her wallet that she realized it was dead quiet.

"Is it too much to hope that nobody taped that?"

* * *

Yeah it was.

She hadn't even gotten in her door properly before the phone calls and texts started rolling in, she ignored all the calls, and waited until she had put away her groceries before she looked at the texts.

 _-Bonnie Sheila. PICK UP YOUR PHONE!_ \- Grams

 _-I DID NOT NEED TO KNOW YOU PLANNED ON BLOWING MY BROTHERS BACK OUT!_ -Liv

 _-All hail Queen B!_ -Caroline

 _-Um, congrats, I guess?_ -Matt. "Et tu, Matty Blue?" Bonnie was wounded.

 _-THAT'S MY GIRL!_ -Mason

"How the….HE'S NOT EVEN HERE!" Bonnie yelled in the quiet of her apartment as she made a simple dinner of mac and cheese. No way could she focus on anything more complicated. With her luck, she'd end up burning her place down.

 _-Forget the family dinner, you're already a Parker!_ \- Jo

 _-THAT'S MAH BITCH!_ -Katherine

 _-I knew the lingerie would be a nice touch_.-Sage

-Tyler sent a clip of Juveniles "Back That Azz Up"

 _-I am so sorry, Bonnie. I'm headed to the house to talk to my mom right now._ \- Stefan.

 _-Am I to assume you'll be working from home tomorrow?_ \- Elijah.

"Yeah, tomorrow and every day after that!" Bonnie retorted.

Her wallowing in embarrassment was interrupted by a knock at her door. "Go away! I'm busy dying of shame." Bonnie yelled.

"Little girl, if you do not open this door right now…" Bonnie didn't even let the threat get finished before she was launching herself across the room to open her door. She wasn't sure what would happen, and she was not taking the chance.

"Grams, hi! What brings you over to my neck of the woods?"

"Do not play with me Bonnie Sheila. Why is your business out there for everyone to know?" She stood with her hands on her hips.

Bonnie had faced vampires, werewolves, hellfire, the devil himself, and stood tall. But at the sight of her grandmother, she reverted back to a teenager. "It was all Lily's fault." She whined. "All she had to do was keep walking, but nooo. She decided she'd try and get her digs in as well. I'm not about to lie down and let her stomp all over me, grams. That's not gonna be Bonnie, not anymore."

Sheila sighed and set down her pocketbook before reaching out to embrace Bonnie. "I know, baby." She cupped Bonnie's face in her hands, "Thank you for standing up to that heffa." Bonnie was surprised, "You're not mad?"

"Hmph." Sheila sat down on the couch. "I'm mad I wasn't there so I could tell her a few extra things about herself. You youngins get to have all the fun nowadays." Bonnie let out the breath she had been holding and collapsed next to her on the couch. "She was just so mean, and smug. I wanted to wipe that smile right off her face." Turning her head to look at her grandmother, "Do you know what the other Bonnie's relationship with her was like?"

"Not really, my grandbaby kept so much to herself, but I could guess it was not good." She reached over and tucked a piece of hair behind Bonnie's ear, "I left it alone because I thought that she knew she could always come and talk to me."

Comprehension dawned on Bonnie, "That's why you're here now, isn't it?" Sheila nodded. "I'm not going to fail you again, so I'll be here to stand in between you and the world if that's what you need."

Bonnie didn't even try to hide the tears, "I'm just embarrassed, it'll go away eventually, but the thought that someone would offer to stand between me and the world is-" Bonnie broke off to sniffle before continuing, "I haven't had that in a long time. And yes, I know I have it now with my friends, but there's something about family. I missed my grams _so much_ and now I have you, and I kinda want to roll you in bubble wrap and never let you out of my sight."

"Oh child, hush. I'm not going anywhere. Come here." Bonnie laid her head in her grams' lap and let Sheila stroke her hair while she hummed softly to her. Bonnie was reveling in the fact that she had rushed over to see if she needed her. The fact that she didn't have to be near death in order to see her grandmother was an additional everyday blessing in Bonnie's mind.

"So about this trip to Portland."

"Ugh." Bonnie buried her head in her grandmother's lap. "Can we ignore that little tidbit?"

"No. You want to shout it out like you're grown, so I'm going to treat you like you're grown."

"I am grown." She mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Thought so." Bonnie could hear the gloating in her voice.

"Now, are you being careful? I can handle being a great-grand mother, but I don't think you're ready for a baby."

"Yes grams, I'm being careful. I'm already on the shot, and we've exchanged histories." At her grandmothers wondering look, Bonnie came clean on reading her doubles' journals. "But only for certain information, I swear. I didn't go snooping through all of them. I figured she deserves some measure of privacy."

"Have you both been tested?" Grams didn't let up.

"Yes, you know I go have a checkup every six months, I just had them throw in the STD test too. He works in a restaurant and is around a lot of sharp objects, he gets tested regularly for insurance purposes as well."

"Well still, don't forget the condoms."

"Yes ma'am."

"And what about this lingerie?"

Bonnie is wishing for a rogue vampire to burst through the door right now. But, no such luck.

"I bought some stuff, but I might as well take it back now." Bonnie said dejectedly.

"Why would you do that?"

"Cause now he's gonna expect it, right? Now there's all this pressure to perform, and I was already nervous, but now? Now, I'm terrified! What if he's disappointed?" Bonnie ranted.

"I'm gonna need you to calm down before you work yourself up any more. Where's all this coming from?"

"I don't know what the Bonnie here was like, but this one? Is not exactly the most experienced person out there." She revealed.

"What? How is that possible? You should have had boys lining up at your door. What the hell was Matt doing?" Her grams asked indignantly.

"Not me!" Bonnie threw her hands up before facing her grandmother. "My very first time was interrupted by a dead vampire passing through me…I'll explain later. My time with Enzo only came about because of how isolated we were. I wanted one normal first time."

"You really think Malachai will pressure you on this trip?" Her grams asks.

"No, I'm the one who's putting pressure on me. I made this deal to have a normal life, and I guess me freaking out about having sex for the first time is as normal as it gets, huh." Bonnie says ruefully. She gets up and goes for the bourbon. No way in hell is Damon ever stepping foot back in her place, so it's up for grabs.

"Well, be careful what you wish for, child. You're right, this is as normal as it gets. I can't tell you what to do, but I do think you're putting way too much on your shoulders. That was a problem with you in your world as well, correct?" Bonnie nodded.

"Relax. The good thing about being here is you don't have danger lurking around every corner. You can take more time if you need it. You can take the option off the table entirely while you're in Portland, and just enjoy the trip. And if Malachai has any objection, you can tell him to come see me." Sheila got up and retrieved her pocket book..

After Bonnie said goodbye to her grandmother, she needed to think. One of the coolest features in the apartment was an old school claw foot tub. Bonnie cleaned her dinner dishes, put the bourbon away and headed upstairs to take a bath.

An hour soaking and still no closer to calming her mind, she decided to rip the band aid off and text Kai.

 _-Hi_

Two hours and no reply later, Bonnie tried not to let it get to her. _'He's working right now, he's probably busy.'_ That was the mantra that ran through her head while she got ready for bed. She was dozing off when the incessant buzzing of her phone jolted her back awake. She reached over to silence it but accidentally knocked it off her night stand to under her bed.

"Fine then, stay under there." She turned over to go back to sleep, but then came the pounding on her door.

"What the fuck?" She screamed into her pillow. She grabbed her Louisville slugger that Kol had given her the last time he was home for a visit, and approached her door.

"I swear to god Damon, if this is you again, I will shove this bat so far up your ass-" She started as she threw open the door.

"Not Damon." Luke said dryly, but Bonnie's attention was on the man next to him. Kai was leaning on her door jamb holding an ice pack over his left eye with his bandaged right hand. "Hey Bonster."

"What the hell happened?" When she went to grab for Kai to help him get settled on her couch, she was certain she smelled tequila.

"Well that's my cue to go." Luke announced. Bonnie looked up in alarm. "You're just gonna leave him here like this?"

"This is where he wanted to come, and besides I have a boyfriend of my own to get home to. Goodnight!" He made sure to slam the door closed behind him.

Bonnie turned back to Kai, "Do you need more ice for that?"

"Nah, it probably won't even swell up, guy hits like a bitch." Kai tossed the icepack on her coffee table and patted the cushion beside him, "why are you so far away? Come sit next to me." She had never seen Kai truly drunk, she didn't think he was drunk now, but he had obviously drank enough to lower the rigid control he usually had on his actions.

"What happened?" Bonnie asked again, sitting next to him and gently guiding his head to lay in her lap. He moaned in pleasure as she carded her fingers through his hair. "You need to never stop doing that, Bon. Seriously."

"I won't, as long as you start talking."

"You know that new guy we hired, the one that I said I didn't have a good feeling about?" He started.

"Yeah."

"And you know how we normally close early on Wednesday for inventory?" He went on at her nod. "Well he was going on and on about some chick being a freak, and he knew it, and blah, blah, blah. I didn't pay him much mind until I heard him say something about Portland."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes, it would have been fine if he had just stopped talking when we asked him to. But he didn't, he kept on."

"Kai, I-"

"And then," He broke off chuckling to himself, "Then, my very sweet girlfriend decides at that moment to text me."

"Shit." Bonnie breathes out. From just his retelling of the events, she can feel him growing more and more tense. How the hell did nobody sense the oncoming storm? Bonnie had spent mere hours in the other Kai's presence and she felt something was not quite right about him. She wasn't afraid of this Kai snapping and killing anyone, but there was always that bit of something that burned beneath the surface.

"Shit is right, he said something, I honestly have no idea what it was, and before I knew it, he was on the floor and my dad was in my face. He got a hit in, but I didn't even feel it." He gestured to his eye.

"Shouldn't you have gone to the E.R?" Bonnie asked, "And that explains the eye, but what happened to your hand?"

"Oh this?" He held up his hand as if he just now noticed it. "No clue, Luke said I cut it on a piece of glass. It wasn't deep enough to require stitches, so he cleaned it himself."

"Let me have a look at it." She stopped stroking his hair in order to reach for his bandaged hand, but he whined and burrowed deeper into her lap. She rolled her eyes and resumed her stroking. "Big baby."

"You smell nice." He said softly.

"I should, I spent about an hour in the tub tonight." She answered. "I'm sorry my big mouth caused this. Lily was pushing my buttons, and I just wanted to wipe that smug smile off her face, by any means necessary. I didn't know anyone was taping it."

"Would you have still said what you said?" Bonnie looked askance at Kai, what a weird question to ask. "Probably not, I just would have kept it in my head."

"I'm glad you said it, I like seeing you fight back. You used to cower in front of her." He frowned, "You used to cower and bend to all of them. It must have felt damn good to throw her bitchiness right back at her. But Bonnie," Here, he sits up and faces her, "I know you were probably freaking out the second it hit you what you said, and I want to tell you there's no pressure."

"No pressure?" She echoed.

"None at all. I didn't invite you specifically just to sleep with you, I hope you know that. I just really wanted to spend some time alone, without all the craziness of Mystic Falls around us."

There it was, the out that Bonnie had so desperately wanted. But the funny thing was, now that she had it, it was the last thing she wanted.

 _'_ _You can take more time if you need it._ ' Her grams' earlier words came back to her. Bonnie decided then and there to take her time in deciding. Who cares what other people thought?

Besides, there was a ton of other fun things they could do in the meantime.

Satisfied with her decision she pulled Kai in for a soft kiss. "Do you have anywhere to be tonight?" Bonnie asked. "Nope." Kai answered rubbing his nose with hers.

"Wanna have a sleepover?" Bonnie breathed into his ear.

"Can we tell ghost stories and do each other's hair?" He mouthed at her neck. She pulled away and stood, "You're not touching an inch of my hair or anywhere else until we take a look at your hand. Get up."

"Evil woman."

* * *

The next day Bonnie left Kai sleeping in her bed and went in to work. She planned on working only a half day. She wanted to let Kai sleep in, but also wanted to spend a little one on one time with him before he went in to work that night.

Just like the day before, she sequestered herself in her office and worked all the way up until lunchtime. This time she called in her order to one of the smaller cafes, making sure to pay over the phone. With any luck she'd get in and be on her way back to the coziness of her bed before the clock struck 1230.

On this day, Bonnie learned she was an idiot and that Mystic Falls was truly a small town.

She scanned the entrance before approaching the door, feeling satisfied that there was no one in there who would give her shit. She hurried in and made her way to the counter.

"Order pick-up for Bonnie?" Hoping that her food was ready. The girl at the counter shot her a salacious grin and held out her food. "Here you go." She looked around quickly before leaning in and whispering, "Girl, I do not blame you one bit, go get you some."

Bonnie felt her face heat and stammered out a 'thanks'. She made sure to check for napkins and silverware before turning to go, distantly registering the ringing of the bell on the door that signified someone had entered.

Or in this case a few someone's.

Damon, Elena, and what looked like the entire Gilbert clan entered en masse.

"Oh come on!"


	9. Truth Will Out

Maybe if she stands very still they won't notice her.

A foolish thought, but in lieu of some sort of apocalypse happening at this very moment, that's all Bonnie's brain was able to think of.

At least her paralysis was also shared by the group in front of her. Nobody moved or spoke, even the background noise of the shop faded away. Bonnie was sure people were expecting another juicy confrontation.

Bonnie took in the group before her. Both Elena and Damon looked like someone had pissed in their cornflakes. Jenna, Miranda, and Grayson all gave Bonnie warm smiles. Katherine and Jeremy…

Katherine was grinning from ear to ear, and Bonnie knew she was enjoying every second of this. The smile Jeremy gave lit up his face and for a second she was reminded of her Jeremy in the old world before everything went to shit. He was still tall and muscular, but obviously carried none of the emotional baggage that his double had.

He was the first to break ranks and stepped towards Bonnie to sweep her up in a big hug. "Hey Bon, long time, huh?" One of Bonnie's most guarded secrets was that she LOVED Jeremy's hugs. It ranked right up there with a hug from Matt. They both just enveloped her completely and she always felt safe and secure. Even with all the crap they had gone through, she had still counted him as a close friend.

Briefly she laments the fact that her Jeremy would have had to mourn her death _again_.

She makes sure to squeeze him extra tight before pulling back to smile up at him. "Schools out for summer?" She teased.

"School needs to be out forever, but yeah, summer break." He replies with a rueful smile. Katherine sashays up and before she even opens her mouth, Bonnie is already beating her to the punch.

"Not today, Satan." Even though Bonnie knows it will do absolutely nothing to deter Katherine if she really wants to push the issue. But Katherine simply mimes zipping her lips and scoots on past with Jeremy, joining Elena and Damon where they have snagged two tables right next to each other.

"How is it every time I see you, you get prettier?" Jenna asks, nearly crushing her in a hug. Bonnie laughed nervously, "Jenna, you been drinking already?" She just winks at Bonnie and leans in to say, "You'd be day-drinking too if you had to sit through some of these planning lunches." She squeezes Bonnie in a side hug before heading to the table.

Bonnie remembers both Miranda and Grayson visiting her while in the hospital, and stopping by her grams place every now and then just to hang out. Well, Miranda would hang out, Grayson would enthusiastically tackle the never ending 'honey-do' list that grams had tacked to her fridge. The visits had trickled down when Bonnie had gotten better enough to move back to her own place, and stopped altogether when Elena had come back.

She was working on rebuilding her relationship with her own father yes, and it was a different world, but for years it was Grayson and Miranda Gilbert who Bonnie regarded as surrogate parents. When their middle school had hosted a 'father-daughter' dance, he had proudly included Bonnie as one of 'his girls'. When Bonnie had questions about her period and just in general about womanly stuff that she was too embarrassed to go to grams with, Miranda had been the one she went to.

So, to see them both regard her awkwardly was another lance to the heart. Bitterly she wished Elena had stayed wherever the hell it was they had flown off to.

But Bonnie had said she was done cowing to other people, so she stepped forward and hugged both adults. She was surprised when both of her hugs were returned strongly, "Now you know alcohol is nothing but a truth-teller. Jenna was right, you are looking so well these days." Miranda says tenderly.

"Thanks. Well, I have to keep up a pretty rigid P.T regimen for at least a year, just to make sure my muscles are-"

"Mom! I'm hungry, can we order?" Elena calls out. Miranda takes in a deep breath and shoots a look at her husband, Bonnie can hear her mutter "your daughter…" to Grayson before she hugs Bonnie one last time and tells her not to be a stranger and leaves to placate her daughter.

"She's right, you don't need to be a stranger, let me know if you need anything fixed around your place." Grayson tells Bonnie before hugging her as well, as he's pulling away he takes the opportunity to whisper, "you're still one of my girls." Bonnie fights past the lump in her throat to smile weakly at him. She grabs her to go bag and exits the café, suddenly hit by an urge to call her father.

* * *

True to form, her outburst in the grocery market is forgotten by the next week when it's replaced by gossip about Carol Lockwood. Apparently Carol had gotten rip-roaringly drunk at some official function and lashed out at her husband. Among the normal accusations of infidelity, there was also the reveal of a possible illegitimate child.

Bonnie was glad that she was no longer the one being talked about, but felt so bad for Tyler having to go through that whole storm. She and Liv got together to organize an impromptu getaway. Liv, Tyler, Luke and his boyfriend James joined Bonnie and Kai up at the lake. They rented some cabins and spent a few days just chilling and attempting to build a fire for s'mores.

Two days after that weekend, Sage went into labor.

Bonnie had been at work when Elijah got the call. If she hadn't been there to see it, she would have never believed that calm, poised, Elijah would be running around like one of his suits were on fire. Bonnie had to call Katherine to come get him because she did not trust him behind the wheel of a car. She reassured him that she would lock up and pushed him out the door. After she closed for the day, she sent a quick text to Kai letting him know that she had to cancel their plans, and made her way to the hospital.

When she finally made it to the hospital, Sage had just delivered. She made a quick stop at the gift shop before following Matt inside to the maternity wing. The entire Mikealson family was crowded around the window to see the new baby boy, Henry David Mikealson.

"Well I guess I had to give up the mantle of most adorable Mikealson one day." Kol lamented sadly.

"Keep dreaming, brother. We all know I held that title." Rebekah shot back.

Bonnie rolled her eyes with Matt before asking about how Sage was doing. "She's doing well, resting right now, thank you for asking Bonnie." Finn answered, unable to take his eyes off his son. She passed her gift to him and congratulated him before offering to make a food run for anyone. Luckily for her, they all passed (Bonnie highly suspected Esther had already called in caterers) and soon she was back in the comfort of her home.

She was debating what to do for dinner when there was a knock at her door. Hopping up to answer it, she was hoping it was Kai bringing her something to eat.

As soon as she opened the door, Bonnie realized right then and there that she was a fool, and either needed a peephole, or to move to a building with a doorman to screen people for her.

Elena Gilbert (Salvatore? did she change her name?) stood at her door, one hand on her hip, the other on her prominent belly. "Well, aren't you going to invite me in?"

"If I say no will you go away?"

Elena huffed and pushed past Bonnie to plonk herself down on the couch. Bonnie considered leaving and letting her have the place before she remembered her robe was inside. She closed the door with a sigh and went straight for the bourbon.

"Since when do you drink bourbon?"

"If one more person asks me that…." Bonnie took a sip. "Why are you here, Elena?" The sense of déjà vu was overwhelming.

"I heard Sage had her baby." She began.

"Yes."

"I heard you were there."

"Yes."

"So you don't have a problem being around babies."

"No." Bonnie was starting to get an inkling of where this was going.

"But you still won't come to my baby shower?" Bingo.

"As you may or may not have heard, I have plans that weekend." Bonnie declined.

"Cancel your plans, you can go to Portland with Kai anytime. I'm having a baby!"

Bonnie put her glass down slowly and looked, really looked, at Elena. "Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why is it so important that I attend your damn baby shower?" Bonnie asked. "I'm honestly bewildered here. Obviously I don't want to come, you probably don't care if I'm there or not, so why are you pushing so hard?" Elena lowered her head, letting her hair curtain her face. "I miss my best friend, my sister, is that so hard to believe?" She questioned sadly.

Bonnie moved away from the kitchen and sat next to Elena. She held out her hands and Elena eagerly placed hers inside of Bonnies, triumphant smile at the ready.

However it didn't last long.

"Yes, that's hard to believe." Bonnie said quietly. "A best friend wouldn't have fucked her so called sister's boyfriend behind her back for months. And when they did eventually get caught, a best friend would have at least apologized or tried to make amends. A best friend wouldn't have flaunted her relationship in front of her so called sister, knowing damn good and well that what she was doing was wrong."

Elena at this point was trying to remove her hands from Bonnie's, but she held tight.

"A best friend wouldn't have run off and gotten married, and announced the whole thing on Facebook for the world to see. A best friend would have at least shown some kind of worry about her so called sister when she learned she had been in an almost fatal car crash. A best friend wouldn't have shown up visibly pregnant after knowing that her so called sister lost her baby, and expected everything to be the same." Even though her voice never rose an octave, each sentence Bonnie delivered with the blow of a hammer.

"Finally, a best friend would have at least asked how the hell I am." Bonnie threw Elena's hands away from her in disgust. "You're not fooling anyone right now. I'll ask you one last time, why is it so important that I attend this damn shower?"

"Fine!" Elena exploded, "I don't want you there, but literally every-fucking-body has asked if you're coming. Do you know how it feels to supposedly be planning one of the biggest moments of your life, and people aren't even focused on you?" Her lips twisted in a snarl as she continued.

"They're all so concerned about you, and how you feel, and 'oh I can't talk too much about anything, we don't want to take the chance Bonnie could overhear and be hurt'. I'm the one having this baby, but all anyone can focus on is you!"

Bonnie leaned back, "Wow that must be so hard for you." She deadpans. "Having to actually suffer the consequences of your actions. It must be hell not to have everyone fawning over you like usual."

"Everyone took your side! My parents barely spoke to me until I told them I was pregnant."

"Did you seriously get pregnant in order to get back in your parent's good graces?" Bonnie was aghast.

"No, it was an accident, but when I saw how people reacted, I decided it was a good thing. Everything and everyone was going back to how it was before."

Bonnie smirked, "And you thought I'd fall back into line, like I always did. You really thought you'd bounce your ass back here and I'd go back to being the sad-sack that I was before you left. Well let me tell you, that's not happening, and the sooner you and your husband realize that, the better off we'll all be."

"Why are you being such a bitch? You have a new boyfriend, you should be over this." Elena looks genuinely confused.

"You really think that's what this is about?" Bonnie laughed in disbelief. "Let me explain something, boys come and go, but we were supposed to be closer than that. You fucked up a lifetime of friendship, Damon destroyed his relationship with his brother, and all for what?"

"If we were supposed to be so much closer, then why did you steal him from me?" Elena countered.

Bonnie freezes, trying to recall reading anything like that in her double's journals. Elena nods and a smug smile crosses her face. "Yeah that's what I thought."

Oh what the hell, Bonnie decides to just ask. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh don't even try to tell me you forgot, you knew I like him. He liked me too before you made him feel sorry for you. 'Oh poor Bonnie doesn't have a mom, her dad is always gone, she has nobody but her crazy grandmother' pathetic."

Bonnie massaged her forehead, "I can't wait till you have this kid, so I can properly beat your ass."

"What, you can't handle the truth?" Elena sneers. "You made him feel sorry for you, just like you duped my parents and everyone else into feeling sorry for you."

Bonnie truly hopes her double has moved on to a better place, and is not somewhere watching this right now. "So, you schemed and plotted for years to get with Damon because you believe you called "dibs", all the while still actively fucking his brother? Why not break up with Stefan, have Damon break up with me, and then you could have been together? You still would have been shady asses, but at least you would have been honest shady asses."

"I told you, he felt sorry for you! He didn't think you'd be able to handle it." Bonnie thought this over before shaking her head.

"No Elena, somebody like Damon doesn't that long with someone just because they feel sorry for them. He's not made like that, so if he stayed for years, it was because he genuinely cared at one point. And he probably cared about his brother's feelings too."

Not that it negated what ended up happening in the end, but at least Bonnie could take comfort that at one point, her double and this Damon were actually in love. It didn't make her want to forgive Damon, not in the least, but knowing that it wasn't all just a long-con was reassuring.

"I care about Stefan's feelings too." Elena countered back.

"Bitch please. You could have done the mature thing and broke up with Stef, but you kept him on a string while you slept with his brother. Maybe if it was a one-time thing, but it was going on for months. Now he's stuck between a rock and a hard place, it must be hell for him to watch his own brother plan the life he always wanted with the woman that he loved. Have either one of you even considered how he feels?"

"I never wanted to hurt Stefan." Bonnie could see tears forming in Elena's eyes, and she scoffed. Her eyes were as dry as the damn Sahara when they were discussing Bonnie's feelings, but talking about Stefan, and suddenly there were waterworks?

"You have a funny way of showing that. Now listen carefully, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told your bitch of a husband last week. Both you and Damon are so used to everyone falling at your feet and giving you whatever you want. Neither of you have done any work whatsoever to try and make amends for all the hurt you caused. I have no familial ties to either of you, I don't have a problem with walking away and never talking to either of you again. But Stefan will be an uncle to this child. If you really care about Stefan, if Damon really wants to repair his relationship with his brother, you'll both need to grovel to him."

"Damon was here last week?" Bonnie's mouth dropped open. That's all she got from Bonnie's speech?

"I am so fucking done with you. Bye." She stalked to the door and gestured for Elena to leave.

Elena ambled over to the door, pausing on her way out, "Do you think we'll ever be friends again?" She asked quietly.

"Were we friends before?" Bonnie closed the door behind her.

* * *

She kept a low profile for the rest of the week, going to work and home without any detours along the way. The only deviation was when she went to the Parker house for dinner. She was surprised when she walked in and saw her grandmother in attendance as well. The night was filled with good food, lots of laughter, and plenty of dad jokes from Joshua.

Bonnie had to admit, she was getting excited. Her one and only trip to Portland had been in the prison world, so she was looking forward to making some new memories. Kai had been successful in managing to schedule most of his meetings for one day. There was a dinner that Bonnie would be accompanying him to on Saturday night, but other than that, and Friday, they would have the weekend to themselves to hang out.

The day of the trip dawned bright and clear. A perfect day for flying, Bonnie thought. Caroline and Katherine came by on their lunch breaks to keep her company while she packed.

"I am so jealous of you. I so don't want to stay here and attend that damn baby shower." Caroline pouts.

"Oh, that reminds me," Bonnie paused in her packing, "while I'm gone, I don't want to hear anything about that. So save all your stories until I get back…unless a fight breaks out, then I want pictures only."

"Gotcha." Katharine winked. Bonnie finished packing and the three friends sat around talking until Kai arrived to help her with her luggage.

"That's all you're bringing?" He asks incredulously. "Yeah, it's just a weekend trip, no need to break out the five piece matching set." She said while checking that everything was secure.

Handing her keys to Caroline she hugged both girls goodbye and got in Liv's car. To Bonnie's surprise, she had offered to drive them to the airport. Kai took the front seat, which left Bonnie alone in the back. She took the opportunity to browse Amazon for trench coats. She was barely paying attention to the conversation until she heard the word cemetery.

Looking up from her phone, she caught Liv's gaze in the rearview mirror. "What?"

"I was asking Kai if you guys were planning on swinging by the cemetery." Bonnie frowned, 'why would we go to a cemetery?'

She was about to ask that very question when it hit her, their mother was buried there. Of course he would want to go and visit. Bonnie nodded, "Yeah, matter of fact, I'll be going to the Rose Test Garden on Friday, I can see if I'll be able to buy a bouquet there and we can take it when we visit your mom. Did she have a favorite kind of rose?" Kai started to protest that she didn't have to, but Bonnie overrode him. "It's happening, Parker. What type?" The rest of the trip is spent discussing other various tourist spots and restaurants.

"I'm going to Powell's Books on Friday too, and we're definitely hitting the Farmers Market on Saturday." Bonnie was always on the lookout for books that looked like they could be grimoires, just on the off chance. She had stopped expecting to find one, but stranger things have happened.

At the airport, Kai quickly unloaded the car and hugged Liv goodbye. Bonnie stepped up to do the same, and was surprised again when Liv slipped something into her hand. Looking down Bonnie could see it was a ring, nothing valuable, but one of the toy rings one would get out of a claw machine.

"Can you take this when you go to the cemetery? Just make a small hole and bury it, somewhere near her headstone if you can." Liv explained.

Bonnie nodded. "Of course." Liv smiled her thanks and was soon driving off back to Mystic Falls.

They arrived in Portland about two hours later than they had initially planned. Extreme weather when they hit Chicago delayed their connecting flight for a few hours. Hungry and travel weary, they headed straight for their hotel, which Kai swore up and down that he didn't choose. Bonnie wondered why he was so adamant about that, but when they finally reached it, she understood.

The Mark Spencer was in the heart of downtown Portland and looked expensive as hell. Bonnie didn't even want to guess how much a room there cost. She waited until Kai tipped the bellhop, and the door shut behind him before she let out a breathy "Oh my God!"

Kai chuckled as he looked around, "Yeah it's nice."

"Nice!" Bonnie couldn't believe how nonchalant he was being. "This place is more than nice, this bed can have its own zip code!" She bounded over to the window, "look at this view!" They were on the 9th floor, so they had a pretty much unrestricted view of downtown Portland. "I love this room, I'm never leaving." She declared.

Kai came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck softly. They stood that way for a while before Bonnie turned in Kai's arms to wind her arms around his neck. "Thank you for inviting me."

"Thank you for accepting." He kissed her nose before tilting his head and claiming her mouth. Bonnie eagerly matched his enthusiasm. The rumbling of both their stomachs was enough to pull them apart and focus on food. Kai offered to call room service while Bonnie took the first turn in the shower.

"Don't take too long in there." Kai called out, but she waved him off. It was a hotel bathroom, how nice could it be?

"OH MY GOD, THIS IS THE BIGGEST SHOWER I'VE EVER SEEN!"

Later, after room service arrived and Kai finally succeeded in prying Bonnie out of the bathroom, she remembered she still needed to send a 'we made it' text. Powering up her phone she found a smattering of 'safe flight' and 'miss you already' texts. Bonnie smiled to herself, she really did luck out in the friend department this go round.

Yawning, she reclined against the fluffy pillows, intending only to rest her eyes while she waited for Kai to finish in the bathroom.

The sound of an unfamiliar alarm jolted her from a sound sleep. "Wha-?" She looked around for the source, but it was so dark in the room, all she could make out were shadows.

"That's for me, go back to sleep." Kai's low voice floated over in the darkness as the alarm was quieted. She reached out until she felt the smooth skin of his back. He was sitting on the edge of the bed fiddling with his phone. She scooted over until she could wrap her hands around his waist. "Don't go, tell them you missed your flight." She rested her cheek on his back and for a moment they did nothing but breathe together.

His phone chirped again, groaning he unclasped her hands and pressed a kiss to each. "The faster I get through these meetings, the faster we can hang out." He slid off the bed and made his way to the bathroom in order to get ready. Bonnie flopped back on the bed and squinted at the clock, "ugh 5:45". She grabbed Kai's pillow and snuggled back under the duvet.

She must have dozed off again because the next thing she knew, Kai was leaning over her and placing a kiss on her forehead. "Have fun today, I'll text you if I'm gonna be late meeting you for dinner."

"Okay. Go be an adult." She smiled sleepily at him.

When Bonnie really woke up, it was a little after 9. She got up and this time decided to try out the spa like tub. Heavenly was the only word for it, and just because she felt like being petty, she took a quick selfie of her next to the tub and sent it to Caroline, Rebekah, Katherine and Liv. The four only sent one word back: BITCH.

It was well after 10 when she stepped outside to make her way to Powell's Books, with it being only a few blocks away, she decided to walk. As she set off she munched on a bagel she snagged from the dining room. When she reached her location she took a pic and sent it to Elijah.

 _-On the lookout for more work?_

 _-Never know what you'll find, boss._

 _-Have fun._

Good thing Bonnie had the forethought to set an alarm to let her know when she had to leave in order to make her tour at the Rose Garden, the hours had passed in what seemed like minutes. While waiting for her Uber ride, she checked her phone and saw several texts from Kai:

 _-Why would you send my sister a picture of the tub?_

 _-…Are you still in the tub?_

 _-You must be at Powell's, I'll leave you to it._

Bonnie waited till her ride was underway before replying.

 _-Payback. She used to send me pictures of Tyler's huge ass tub._

 _-I actually just left, on my way to the Rose Garden for my tour._

 _-How are your meetings going?_

She hadn't received a reply by the time she made it to the Rose Garden, but she figured he was busy. Walking into the garden she felt her breath catch, there were roses literally everywhere. The air was perfumed with their smell, Bonnie couldn't help but take a deep breath. She whipped out her phone, fully recognizing she was behaving like a tourist, snapping pictures of almost every type of rose, but every time she thought she had enough pictures, there was a new type of rose to capture.

When she was sure she had enough pictures, she proceeded to spam her grandmothers phone until she got a message back:

- _You send me one more picture of a rose, you better go pick a switch and bring it back with you, Bonnie Sheila!_

"Geesh, no more flowers, I get it." Bonnie put her phone away and focused on the tour. But when they were at the Japanese Garden, she couldn't resist whipping out her phone again. She'd just save these for when grams wasn't so crotchety.

The time flew by once more, and soon she found herself back at the hotel getting ready for diner. Kai would be running late, so he had asked her to meet him at the restaurant. Bonnie freshened up and changed into a black knee length sheath with a bateau neckline. She was going to call another Uber, but the front desk had informed her that a car would be waiting for her whenever she was ready to leave. She felt unbelievably spoiled as she sat in the backseat, taking the opportunity to take another selfie.

Andina was a Peruvian restaurant, and from the way their food looked online when Bonnie was researching, it looked damn good. They pulled up to the restaurant and as she stepped out of the car, Bonnie spotted Kai standing out front talking to someone that was partially hidden.

"Hey Parker," Bonnie called. He turned to greet her, so did the person he was talking to. "Nora." Bonnie said, surprised. The brunette slapped Kai on the shoulder, "See, I told you she'd remember." She hugged Bonnie and they did the usual 'I love your shoes/I am so in love with your dress' dance.

"Oh, okay. I'll just stand here then." Kai cut in. Bonnie shook her head at Nora and went to greet him with a kiss. She meant to keep it short, but he grabbed her waist as she went to pull away and deepened the kiss.

"Is this what we're doing then, watching them make out like teenagers?" The irritated voice cut through her Kai induced fog.

'Nice to see you too, Mary-Louise' she thought to herself.

Nora introduced her wife to Bonnie, Mary-Louise barely looked in her direction before she swept Nora off to the entrance to the restaurant. "Okay." Bonnie dragged the word out and turned to Kai, "What was that?"

"No clue, maybe she's just had a bad day. Come on, I'm hungry." He tugged her in the same direction the other two had disappeared in. Once they entered Bonnie was instantly enchanted by the décor and the live band that was playing. "Have you been here before?" Bonnie asked. "No. It was a recommendation by Luke, he said the food is amazing and he wouldn't mind seeing it on the menu at Vera's."

"You're scouting for recipes?"

"Always, Bonster. There they are." He grabbed her hand and led her through the maze of tables until they reached the married couple. They were soon seated and Bonnie was discussing the menu options with Kai when Nora broke in.

"So Bonnie, how did you keep yourself busy today?" Bonnie snuck a look at Mary-Louise who had her face buried in the menu.

"Oh, normal tourist stuff. I went to Powell's and then took a tour of the Rose Test Garden." She leaned into Kai a little, "By the way, don't mention any flowers to grams for a bit. I spammed her with all kinds of pictures and she did not appreciate it the way I thought she would."

"Threatened to get a switch?"

"Yep." They both laughed while Nora looked on in confusion.

"Where is the bloody waiter? We've been sitting here for ages already." Nora smiled apologetically before turning to her wife and the two having some sort of silent conversation. Bonnie raised her eyebrows before turning back to Kai to continue to discuss what to order.

The night continued on in that manner. Nora, Kai, and Bonnie would have a good conversation going, and then Mary-Louise would interject with a sharp comment or complaint. By the end of the meal, Bonnie was so ready to leave the two of them behind. Nora was nice and all, but not worth putting up with the attitude from her wife. The couples said goodbye outside before parting ways.

Bonnie waited until they were back at the hotel before asking, "What the hell was that?"

Kai frowned as he slid off his jacket, "I have no idea what was up her ass. She's normally not like that at all." He moved into the bathroom while Bonnie kicked off her shoes and sent pictures of the restaurant and food back to the gang in Mystic Falls. When Bonnie took her turn in the bathroom, she tried not to spend too much time in the shower, but she must not have succeeded, because when she came out only the lamp on her side of the bed was lit, the T.V was on low, and Kai was fast asleep.

Bonnie chuckled and made sure to off the T.V. before settling in bed next to Kai. Tomorrow promised to be a fun day.


	10. A Tale of Two Saturdays

Saturday-Portland

It was a gorgeous day for attending a Farmers Market.

Bonnie had been the first to wake and just because she was so nice, she let Kai sleep in while she took her time getting ready (it had nothing to do with wanting more time in that huge ass shower, shut up) By the time she was finished, Kai was stirring. Bonnie flew across the room and landed in a heap on the expansive bed.

"Wake up, we need to get a move on!" She takes a pillow and smacks him in the face. He eyes her for a moment before snaking a hand out, lightning fast and snatches the pillow and proceeds to return the favor.

One hour, two pillow fights, and a quick bite to eat later, they're off to spend the morning at the Saturday Market. Afterwards they'll swing by the cemetery to visit Kai's mom and lay flowers on her grave. Then Kai will take her around to see their old house, and swing by a few of his old haunts.

They were a little late getting started, so there's already a good sized crowd when they arrive. Bonnie stops to take a picture of the sign and send it to Luke and Liv with a smiling emoji. Luke sent back a thumbs up.

Bonnie and Kai wandered from booth to booth, sampling food and drinks, while Bonnie kept an eye out for souvenirs. She wandered away from Kai while he was haggling over the price of a pair of daggers for Liv to an out of the way booth just on the outskirts of the area. She couldn't explain why it caught her attention, except to say it looked a little off to her. Glancing back to make sure Kai was still occupied, she ducked around the corner and walked up to the booth that looked unattended.

It was set up like a stereotypical magic shop, there was a sign that advertised palm reading, as well as various bottles and jars of stuff. There was also an assortment of what looked like handmade jewelry made with gemstones. Liv could be a little hippie like sometimes, so Bonnie felt sure she'd be able to find something for her here.

She was browsing the necklaces when she felt her blood run cold. Right there on the counter was Qetsiyah's necklace. Bonnie straightened and took a step back.

"No need to fear what's rightfully yours."

Bonnie whipped around, eyes landing on a stylish black man who had appeared out of nowhere. "I'm sorry?"

"You just seemed surprised, that's all. Although, I can understand, it must be quite the shock to see a remnant of your old life here." As he talked he walked closer to Bonnie, who in turn, took steps back. "You don't need to fear me. I'm not here to take anything away from you. I was told you'd be visiting."

"How?" The question slipped out before she could contain it. "There's no-"

"Magic here, yes and no. There's no _overt_ magic, you can't actively practice, but it manifests in other ways. Sixth senses, gut feelings, those kind of things." He looks right and left before lowering his voice, "and for a lucky few, dreams that eventually come to pass." He hold out his hand, "I'm Vincent."

"Bonnie." Placing her hand in his, she felt a warmth that she's only felt a few times before. It was the feeling of family. He laughs at her obvious surprise, "That's just a little bleed through. It'll get less and less the longer you're here."

He lets go of her hand and gestures to the necklace, "I think you should take it."

"How much is it?" Bonnie is rooting around in her purse for her wallet when he stops her. "I meant it when I said it's yours. I used to think it was weird that nobody ever looked at it, but I guess it never sold for a reason." Bonnie starts to protest, but he places the necklace in her hands

"Bon?" Kai's voice makes her snap her head around, she hadn't even heard him walk up. "You find something?" She looks down at the necklace and smiles, "I guess I did." Vincent offers to wrap it up for her, so while that is happening she looks down to Kai's empty hands. "No luck haggling?"

He sighs heavily, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Nope, guess it's for the best. Can't exactly take them on the plane nowadays, can I?"

"You trying to get put on the 'no fly' list Parker? Cause that's how you get on the 'no fly' list." Bonnie teased. Vincent came back and handed a bag. "Thanks Vincent."

"Not a problem, Miss Bonnie. You take care now." Bonnie nods her head, "Same to you."

* * *

Kai leads her out and they head back to the hotel to drop off Bonnie's bags and grab the bouquet of roses that she bought earlier, before heading to the cemetery. They had just parked when her phone chimed, she looked at it and laughed.

"I think Caroline is drunk." Kai looked at the clock.

"It's only 2 p.m there, why do you say that?" She held out her phone for him to see. It was a mix of letters, nothing that made sense. He shrugged it off, "She must have sat on it or something." They got out of the car and Bonnie followed Kai as he made his way towards his mother's plot.

Bonnie offers to hang back while he speaks to his mother, but he just rolls his eyes and pulls her along. He introduces Bonnie and she kneels down to bury the trinket that Liv gave to her. She is respectfully quiet as she listens to Kai update his mother on all that has happened since his last visit. It's all normal everyday stuff until she hears him pause then take a deep breath.

"I'm keeping my promise, mom. I'm still seeing my therapist, and taking my meds when I have to." He's facing the headstone, purposefully not looking in Bonnie's direction. He talks more about his treatment and all that his family is doing to help him when he needs it.

Bonnie's mind is racing a mile a minute. Her first thought is that she shouldn't be here to hear this, but then another thought pops up, 'he brought me here on purpose'. The fact that Kai had taken her to his hometown, his mother's grave, and is sharing more of who he is makes Bonnie's heart sing. She reaches over to run her hand down his arm until she reaches his clenched fist, gradually he opens his hand so she can intertwine her fingers with his.

They leave shortly after that, each lost in their own thoughts. Kai had revealed something incredibly important and it left Bonnie thinking she should come clean with her story. They've made it to the car and Kai is discussing possible lunch spots, when Bonnie gently pushes him against the car and holds him there with her body.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want, but I am extremely proud of you. You're fighting something that I can't even imagine, and I just want you to know that I'm here if you ever need someone to talk to, or if you need help." She waits while he searches her face for any signs of untruth, before wrapping his arms around her and dropping a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you."

"Thank you for letting me in." Bonnie replies.

* * *

Over lunch he tells her about how his mother was Bi-polar and as long as she remembered her meds, everything was fine. All through her pregnancies, she was closely monitored by the doctors to ensure she was getting the best treatment despite not being able to take her usual medication due to it possibly harming her unborn children.

The problem came when she had a miscarriage. She hadn't even known she was pregnant, but became convinced that it was the medication that caused her to lose her child. Unbeknownst to anyone, she quit cold turkey, anxious to get pregnant again. It didn't take long for her to spiral out of control. Kai glossed over her final months, but Bonnie got the gist, it was bad for everyone.

Jo and Kai were in their final year of high school, Luke and Liv were in the 8th grade when their mother died. That was also when Kai was officially diagnosed with being bi-polar as well.

Joshua initially tried to stay in Portland, because that's where his wife was buried, but when Liv started acting out, and Luke started withdrawing from everyone, he knew he had to step up and do what was right for his family. He sold his share of the restaurant that he owned and since Jo had gotten accepted into Duke pre-med, he chose a quiet town that was about a four or five hour drive away.

Bonnie listened in rapt fascination as Kai explained how they came to end up in Mystic Falls. By the timeline Kai just gave, the Parkers had been in Mystic Falls a little over 10 years. That means Luke and Liv probably showed up at the beginning of Bonnie's sophomore year. She knew from past conversations that Kai had gone to a smaller school in Chicago and double majored in Culinary Arts and Business.

They continued their tour of Kai's hometown, he showed her his high school and where he liked to go when he skipped school. He also took her to his home. Bonnie was preparing to see the house in which the massacre occurred, but to her surprise, it was a smaller house surrounded by trees that Kai took her to. All in all Bonnie thoroughly enjoyed their trip down memory road.

* * *

They had to hustle to get back to the hotel in order to get ready for dinner. Caroline had talked her out of the sensible cocktail dress she had initially chose, and into a figure hugging dark red dress that made her boobs look fantastic and her ass "absolutely edible" according to Katherine.

She stepped out to find Kai talking on the phone with his back to her, "I'm ready." She called out. He turned, scanned her from head to toe, and abruptly said he had to go into the phone and hung up. He didn't say anything or move, and after a while Bonnie started to feel self-conscious. She bit her lip, "Is it too much? Cause I can change."

He crossed the room in three long strides, "Don't you dare." He backed her up until she felt the wall behind her, and he buried his face in her neck. She reached up to run her nails over the nape of his neck. He groaned and lifted his head to take her mouth in a fiery kiss. She used her grip on his neck to angle his head just so, and deepened the kiss, tangling her tongue with his.

The sound of the phone brought them back to reality, the front desk announced that their car was here. Bonnie was two seconds from saying 'screw the car', but this was also a business meeting and important to Kai, so she sucked it up, freshened up her lipstick and they made it downstairs and into the car.

They had been in the car for what seemed like minutes before it stopped again, the driver announcing their destination.

"Seriously? We could have walked!" Bonnie exclaimed. Kai raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "In those shoes?" He asked, looking at her 5 inch heels that Kat swore went along with the dress.

"….valid point." Bonnie conceded.

El Gaucho was a pricey steakhouse and cigar bar, it was the kind of place where deals were made with the shake of a hand. Bonnie was preparing for a night of man jokes, creepy innuendos, and possibly a stray hand or two.

She really needed to stop being so pessimistic all the time.

The dinner was nothing like she'd imagined. Upon entering the restaurant, they were greeted by the music of the band. "Another place with a live band!" Bonnie was excited all over again. They were lead back to a private room and Bonnie was shocked to see the host was none other than the former Heretic Beau. He was dressed to the nines, and when he greeted them, Bonnie was surprised to learn his voice was very gentle and melodic.

He gestured for them to sit and have a glass of wine, explain that his partner was running a little late. As they sipped and got to know each other, Bonnie learned that Beau and Joshua were friends going back as far as high school. He was regaling Bonnie with stories of Kai as a teenager when the door burst open. Bonnie was alarmed, but Beau just smiled and introduced his business partner Oscar. Seeing Oscar made her hope that Julian was not going to show up next.

He apologized for being late, but explained he had just come from Nora and Mary-Louis's place where they were celebrating the good news that they were expecting. Bonnie's eyes widened, 'is everyone around me having a baby?' she wondered. But that also explained her crabbiness the other night, she imagined it must have taken a lot of outside help in getting pregnant and she'd heard that those extra hormones were no joke.

So the group raised a toast to the expectant mothers and carried on. Bonnie feasted on rack of lamb for dinner and enjoyed wines that she would probably never be able to afford. For dessert, the table agreed on Bananas Foster that was prepared right next to them. As their dinner drew to a close, the group migrated into the Cigar room. Bonnie even took the opportunity to light one up, but it wasn't to her taste at all. Before she handed it over to Kai though, she made him take a picture of her holding both the cigar and a sniffer of brandy.

Her grams would have a fit, but when else would she have the opportunity to do it? Carpe Diem, baby.

Bonnie excused herself to go to the ladies room, she gasped when she entered. Even their bathrooms were top notch! When she was on her way back from the restroom, she took a detour to stop and watch the live band play.

"Do you dance?" Bonnie was so enraptured, she didn't notice Beau had come up and stood next to her. Bonnie shook her head, "No, I just love the music." They stayed like that until the song ended, then he escorted her back to the cigar room. Bonnie couldn't remember the last time she had had so much fun. The foursome ended up closing down the place, and in addition to Kai closing his deal, Bonnie had also done some wheeling and dealing of her own. Oscar happened to collect extremely rare books and was looking to have some restored and translated. Bonnie passed him Elijah's contact info and Oscar assured her that he would reach out sometime in the upcoming week.

By the time they got back to the hotel room, both were slightly drunk and decided to just go to bed. They had nothing planned until Sunday afternoon, and both were looking forward to sleeping in.

Neither bothered to check their phones until the following morning.

* * *

Sunday-Portland

When Bonnie woke, she rolled over expecting to feel Kai next to her. All she found was a piece of paper letting her know he went to get doughnuts. Rolling out of bed, she shuffled into the bathroom "Yikes." She said referring to herself. She had done a half assed job of taking off her make up the night before, so one eye was still ringed with eyeliner and her hair was doing god only knows what. She hopped in the shower, then changed into leggings and an oversized shirt to wait for Kai to come back.

She was hunting for her phone charger when he returned. Her phone had died, and she wanted to see the pictures they had taken throughout the night. "Hey, you seen my phone charger? I wanna make some people jealous." When she got no answer she looked up to see him setting the box of donuts down and picking up her cord for her charger, it had fallen behind the desk. "Thanks."

While her phone booted up, she took a good look at Kai. "What's wrong?"

"Did you get any other messages from anyone back in Mystic Falls yesterday?" He asked.

"No, just that key smash from Caroline. Why, did something happen?" He sits on the couch and nods.

"Oh yeah. Liv didn't know all the details, cause she wasn't there, but apparently Stefan had a meltdown, some stuff was said, and basically he's disowned."

"WHAT?" Bonnie dove for her phone, and sure enough there were tons of missed calls and text messages, her eyes landed on a video clip simply titled "Salvatore went OFF!" Bonnie hits play and they both watch as Stefan staggers into the frame and starts yelling about a bear. Its five minutes of him finally exploding and telling Damon what he thinks of him as a brother, calling Elena a whore, his mother an uppity bitch, and that he was done with all of them.

Bonnie watches in horror as Giuseppe steps in the frame and tells him that he is no longer welcome in the family. Stefan laughs and asks "which one? This one, or the one you have two hours away? Yeah, I know about them." Giuseppe roars at him to get out, and finally, mercifully, Caroline and Nik both step in to steer him away. The video ends with Elena bursting into tears and Damon rounding on his father in anger.

"Oh my god." Bonnie looks at Kai, "Have you-"

"He's with Nik, he took him to one of their family cabins." Bonnie sighs, "Thank God." At least he's not alone.

"I think you should call him." Kai prods.

"Why? I have nothing to do with this."

"Yeah but if there's anyone that knows how he's feeling it's you." He continues.

"No, it's not the same. Damon is his brother, as long as he's married to Elena, there's no escape for him." Bonnie argued. "I can walk away at any time, as evidenced by this weekend. It's not the same." She repeated.

Kai jumps up and begins pacing, "I don't get you sometimes, if there is anyone that can understand what he's going through it's you. But here you are, acting like it doesn't bother you."

"Because it doesn't bother me."

"Yeah, I know. And that's what worries me."

"You're worried that I'm _not_ a basket-case?" Bonnie laughs, "What kind of logic is that?"

"I'm worried that you're suppressing your emotions somehow, and eventually, you're gonna explode just like Stefan did."

"The only thing I'm suppressing right now is the urge to scream." She snarks.

"And that! Your whole personality change since your accident! Are you taking something?"

Bonnie recoils, "You honestly think I'm drugging myself? Please tell me when I would be doing that. I was with you ALL DAY yesterday. When would I have had the chance?"

"While you were in the bathroom." He answers promptly.

"When I was….are you fucking kidding me right now with this?" Bonnie doesn't think she's been so insulted.

"Well, something is going on! I've ignored it for as long as I could, but it's always there, in the back of my mind."

"What is?"

"That you're not being completely honest with me."

"What, I have to tell you everything I do now?"

Kai laughs bitterly, "And there you go again. Every time I try and get behind that mask, you deflect, and go on the offensive."

"You keep pushing me to go on the offensive!" Bonnie yelled. She took a step back to regroup. "Look, I know there've been some…..inconsistencies with how I was before the accident, and how I am now. But can't you trust me when I tell you that I'm dealing with it the best way I know how? Don't I deserve that little bit of leeway?"

"I do trust you, but you don't trust me."

"What do you mean? Of course I trust you, I wouldn't be here with you if I didn't."

"Fine." Kai conceded, "You might trust me a little bit, but not enough to tell me everything. What are you so afraid of?" He waits for her to answer, and when she doesn't he scoffs and grabs his coat. "I'm going out for a walk. Please reconsider calling your friend."

"I'm afraid that I'll tell you and you'll think I'm crazy." Bonnie says quietly as he passes by her. He stops but doesn't turn around. "Grams knows. She asked a few well-placed questions and I folded like a deck of cards. I've never been able to lie to her." She sniffed. "I hate lying to you, to all of you. I just…it's such a crazy thing, and on the off chance that you do believe me, I worried that you'd hate me."

"I'd never hate you. I just want…..need to know." He turns and gathers her in his arms and Bonnie holds on for dear life. He settles her on the couch next to him. "I need you to trust me, that's the only way this thing we're trying to build will work."

"Right." Bonnie pulled away, turned to face him head on, and pulled her legs underneath her to sit cross legged. "You remember when we had our T.V sci-fi marathon, and we watched Eureka?" She could see him confused as to why she was bringing up a T.V show, but to his credit he just nodded.

She looked at her hands nervously. "Remember what happened in season 4?"

It took a while, but she could tell the exact moment it hit him. His eyes grew wide and he leaned back. "No, that's not possible. That's a T.V show Bonnie."

"I told you it was crazy." She whispered.

"How? What? When?" He's stumbling over his questions, but he's still here, so Bonnie takes that as a good sign.

"We both died around the same time. Me in my world, she here. Remember that freak lightning storm that cut off all the power in the hospital? That was the moment we switched. I've been here ever since."

"Where did she go?"

"This is the part where I'm afraid people will hate me. She's dead. We were each given a choice, and I chose to keep living, she chose to give up and pass on." Bonnie kept her head down and waited out the minutes. Finally, still saying nothing, Kai got up and walked out the door.

Bonnie burst into tears on the couch.

* * *

Saturday-Mystic Falls

"Argh." Stefan woke up to a face full of sunshine. He must have forgotten to close the curtains last night, or rather this morning. Nik had taken him out for a few drinks. A few drinks turned into a lot, and before he knew it, he was being carried into his former room at Salvatore Manor.

He could hear movement downstairs and his mother's sharp voice ordering some poor servants around. Lillian Salvatore was a notoriously demanding employer, Stefan didn't understand why people still agreed to work for her. _'Oh yeah, the money.'_

The soft knock on his door pulled him from his musings, he prayed that it would be anyone else but _her._ Luck, apparently was not on his side today, or any other day lately. He watched as Elena stuck her head in, once she saw he was awake, she invited herself in and took a seat at the foot of his bed.

He took a minute to regard her while she was making herself comfortable. She still wore her hair long, but it was wavier now, not pin straight like she used to keep it. Her big brown eyes still pulled him in, and her lips….

Nope, bad road to go down, he mentally told himself.

"What can I do for you this fine morning….sis?" He asked, pushing himself up to lean against his headboard. She shrugged one shoulder, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You looked pretty trashed last night."

"Thanks for your concern but, as you can see, I'm fine. Was there anything else?" Elena pouted before brightening. "The set-up is starting downstairs, do you want to go see what's happening?"

He gives her a blank look, "Why would I want to see that, shouldn't you be asking your _husband_ , you know, the father of your baby that?"

"I just thought you might like to be included." She snapped.

"I'm involved just the right amount thank you." He got up, not caring about his state of dress and escaped into his bathroom. Thankfully when he emerged she was gone, but he could still smell her perfume lingering in the air. He thought about texting Bonnie to see how her trip was going, but decided not to, someone needed to have a good time this weekend.

He ran into Damon on the way to the kitchen.

"Brother."

"Dickhead."

Lily was holding court in the dining room, so Stefan switched directions and went straight to the kitchen. He poked around the breakfast platters his mother had set up before breaking away to go eat on the terrace. From his vantage point, he could see the crews setting up the giant tents in the backyard. The gallery had suffered an "unforeseeable" leak, so Lily had to scramble to get everything changed over to hold at the house. Which is where it should have been held all along.

"Scoot over." Kat's voice came from his left side.

He moved over obligingly, "Where'd you come from?" He hadn't see her in the dining room with the rest of the planning committee.

"Do you know how big your house is? I've been looking at your art." Stefan raised an eyebrow, "And by looking at your art, I mean raiding you cellar." She held up a flask, "Care for a pick-me up? Hair of the dog and all that."

Stefan knew he shouldn't, especially after last night, but after his early morning visit from Elena, and running into Damon, he just wanted this day to hurry up and be over. So he held out his coffee and Katherine topped him off. "Bottoms up." They both drank deeply. Stefan offered her some of his pilfered goods, and they both ate and drank from the relative safety of the terrace.

"What are you doing out here? I need your help decorating!" Miranda stuck her head out the door. "Oh good morning Stefan. Katerina, get a move on." She disappeared back inside.

"Oooh, your government name, someone's in trouble." Stefan teased.

"Who's in trouble?" Rebekah appeared next to Stefan. He blinked, then looked at his coffee cup, what the hell did she put in his cup?

"Mom pulled out the Katerina, means she's pissed about something already." She took another pull, and slid the flask in a thigh holster. She looked up to see both Stefan and Rebekah watching her. "What? I can't be the only one pre-gaming here." Grabbing a piece of fruit to mask the alcohol on her breath she went back inside.

"That girl." Stefan shook his head.

Stefan knew no one would be asking Bex to join in on helping set up, so the two stayed outside. Damon poked his head out once to ask Stefan for some help, but Rebekah quickly shot that down. "It's your spawn, you do it."

When Rebekah was called away, he got up and moved his empty plates to the kitchen, fully intending on washing them himself. The servants that his mother hired almost had a fit at the thought of him doing any kind of domestic chore. He started to argue, but realized he wouldn't be the one fired if Lily found out, so he said his thanks and made a quick getaway to hide in the stables.

Or at least he tried to.

Lily caught up to him at the front door, "Oh good, you're up. I need you to help the caterers off load the food and bring them into the kitchen. After that you need to call your father's office and remind them that he has to be out of there by 12:30 sharp in order to make it here on time." Stefan was only half listening until she mentioned his grandmother.

"Whoa, back up, she's not coming?"

"Antonella is unfortunately feeling under the weather, so no she will not be joining us. I thought I told you?"

"No you didn't. You know you didn't, otherwise I would be far away from this place. You know the only reason I was even going to attend this mess was because I haven't seen Nonna Nella in years." Stefan was pissed. Lily had to have known that his paternal grandmother wasn't going to be able to make it. She was too organized to leave anything to chance.

"What's the big deal? We'll take lots of pictures and videos to send back to Italy so they're not missing out on anything." Lily smirked, knowing that he wouldn't want his precious Nonna to think he wasn't there. Stefan shook his head as he walked away. _This damn family….._

His mother had ordered enough food to feed a damn army. Which was stupid in Stefan's eyes because he knew none of these women would eat anything heavier than a cucumber sandwich. He walked out just as Luke pulled up and backed into the side entrance to the house.

"You look like shit." Stefan like that Luke pulled no punches, and always said what was on his mind, whether you wanted to hear it or not.

"Huh, that's weird, I could have sworn I was wearing my happy face." He dead-panned. They made quick work of unloading everything, and soon it was time for Luke to leave. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a flask. "Courtesy of my brother, he thought you'd need something to get you through the day."

Stefan made a 'WTF' face, why was everyone offering him alcohol?

At that moment though, Damon stuck his head out the door, "Are you done fraternizing with the help? I need you to go to and pick up a few of mom's friends from the airport."

Stefan took the flask from Luke and downed half of it while keeping eye contact with his brother. "Can't, I've been drinking." He walked away hearing Luke crack up behind him.

Normally Stefan had an issue with how big their house was, but on this day, he praised its expansiveness. Whenever anyone would come looking for him, he'd duck into an empty room or hide in an alcove.

Needless to say when the party officially started, Stefan Salvatore had a nice buzz going.

He took another shower to sober himself up a bit, then changed into his pre-approved party attire and went downstairs to do his brotherly? uncle-y? (whatever, he'd ask Caroline when he saw her which title would come first) duty.

His mother initially wanted him standing with the rest of the family by the door greeting people, but Stefan said a hearty 'fuck you' to that idea. Instead he ventured out back and took up residence near the table set up for the gifts. Nik found him there after a half hour, "What are you doing back here?"

"Thinking of something petty to do to the gifts. What are you doing here?" Nik sighed and pulled out his own flask, "Bribery. My beloved promised me a weekend where everything is of my choosing." Stefan nodded slowly, Caroline was a notorious control freak, so for her to hand the reigns over to someone else must mean she really wanted him to come.

Nik had started a trend it seemed. Soon almost every male had congregated over to where they were and stood about shooting the shit. Stefan saw Damon look over a few times, and each time he did, Stefan lifted his flask to where his brother could see it and drank.

He left his little corner only a few times, once to refill his (and a few others') flask, and to take the obligatory family pictures. He could tell Lily was pissed at his behavior, but it wasn't like she could do anything while all the town it seemed, was in attendance.

But he had forgotten how crafty and just plain evil his dear mother could be.

In one of the family pictures, she stopped the photographer and pretended to think. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we took one on one shots of the mommy to be with the aunt and uncle?" Stefan swore his heart stopped. Even Damon seemed to realize this was too far, protesting that they had enough posed pictures, and they should get to opening the gifts.

Stefan looked at Katherine, she looked ready kill Lily, and as nice as that thought was, he decided to suck it up. Katherine went first and the amount of teeth she bared could have been mistaken for a smile…..if you were blind. When it was Stefan's turn, he smiled on cue and played his part, he would not let his mother win.

"Okay, I think we're good. Time to open gifts now." Miranda dragged her daughter away, hissing something under her breath. Grayson just clapped him on the shoulder and followed his wife. Stefan made his way back to his safety spot. Wordlessly, Nik handed him a flask and watched as he downed it all.

The opening of the gifts was well underway and Stefan was starting to think he'd actually make it through this when he heard Elena squeal as she read a card.

"Oh my god! So, okay the card says:

 _Maybe a knickknack, or maybe a toy_

 _Here's something to welcome your bundle of joy_

 _With lots of love for both of you_

 _And many blessings for your baby too._

There is an audible aww, as Elena reads the card, then pulls out a teddy bear. He sees Caroline gasp and shoot straight up in her seat.

"Who's it from?" Someone yells out.

Elena is beaming ear to ear as she reads out, "With love, Bonnie."

You could have heard a pin drop, it was so quiet, then Stefan hears a strangled sound come from Caroline before she whips out of her chair and leaves the area. Nik and Rebekah follow her and even though he can't hear what she's saying, it obviously has to do with the gift that was just opened. He slides out while everyone else is preoccupied with watching Elena open more gifts to try and find where they went.

He finds them in the stables. Caroline's face is beet red and she is wrestling with Rebekah for her phone. "I just need to ask her!" Caroline shouts. "You're not asking her that, at least not now. Let her come back, then ask her." But Caroline will not be deterred, "It's bullshit, I know it is, Bonnie wouldn't do that."

"Bonnie wouldn't do what?" He asks, leaning on a stall door. Caroline freezes and Rebekah takes the opportunity to grab her phone and check to make sure nothing was sent out. "Thank goodness, it just looks like a key smash or you sat on it. I'm confiscating this for the rest of the night." Rebekah slides the phone into her bra and leaves.

Stefan is way too drunk for this shit, "You gonna tell me what's going on?

Caroline rounds on him, "That lying bitch is what's going on. No way Bonnie gave her trifling ass a gift, and if she did, it sure as shit wouldn't be the teddy bear that her mother gave her!"

"What?" Stefan thinks he might throw up.

"That's the one thing she has of her mom, and we all thought she'd lost it years ago. Bonnie was hysterical when it came up missing. She….WE looked for ages for it. She wouldn't even accept any other teddy bears until she found Ms. Cuddles." She stopped to wipe the tears that streaked down her face, "She must have had it the whole time. I swear I am so done with her." She turns to Nik and asks him to take her home.

The trio head back to the staging area to get Caroline's things, he makes the mistake of looking up at Elena and sees that she has the bear sitting right next to her and something in him snaps.

He walks up to where she is seated, intending to take the bear and give her back to her rightful owner, but Damon intercepts him. "What the fuck are you doing?" He asks under his breath.

Stefan shoves him away, "Get the fuck off me you asshole, I have had it with you and your wife's bullshit." He turns to address Elena, "You know good and well that's not a gift, that bear was stolen!"

"Stefan you're drunk, go sit down." Damon grabs his arm to tug him away from everyone, but Stefan rips his arm away. "Oh so now, you care about me? Let me tell you something, brother, if you cared about me, you wouldn't have been fucking my girlfriend behind my back for months. You are nothing but a waste of skin, and I'm ashamed to call you my brother."

He shifts to include Elena, "it must have been so convenient that we lived in the same house, you didn't have to go far for your whoring. Nope, just right on down the hall." He can hear the gasps behind him, but he doesn't care, this has been months in the making.

"Tell me _brother_ ," He sneered, "Did you ever kiss her and taste my dick? Did you ever think about that?" He rounds on Elena again, "When you were sucking his dick could you taste Bonnie's pussy?"

"Stop!" Lily screams. "Stefan you need to leave, I will not have you besmirching our good name like this."

"YOU!" He turns on his mother, "You are nothing but a snobby, bigoted bitch. I'm ashamed to call you my mother. You didn't like Bonnie because she "wasn't the right fit" for your upper crust, country club bitter old biddies, but you welcome her with open arms?" He gestures in the vicinity of Elena. "Bonnie is worth a thousand Elena's, but you couldn't get past her skin tone, could you?"

"ENOUGH!" Giuseppe's voice cuts through the air. "Stefano, since you are so ashamed of us, maybe you shouldn't be a part of the family anymore." More gasps.

Stefan just laughs, "Which family poppa? The one here, or the one you keep hidden two hours away? Yeah I know about them, you are not that good at keeping secrets."

"GET OUT!" Giuseppe roars.

Caroline steps into his field of vision and pleads for him to follow her out. He takes one last look around and staggers away with Nik's help. He reaches the edge of the driveway before he drops to his knees, throws up, and passes out.


	11. Coming Clean

She's not sure how long she stays crumpled on the couch, but eventually she rises and trudges into the bathroom. Bypassing the mirror entirely she heads for the massive spa-like tub, she always does her best thinking while submerged.

But this time, it's just not working. She can't get the mental image of how Kai looked at her right before he left out of her head. The final slam of the door as he wordlessly took off to do god knows what. She curses herself, asking why couldn't she have just sucked it up and played along. But she knows the answer, she was tired of pretending with him. He brought her to his hometown, took her to his mother's grave, and admitted his mental illness and that he still struggles sometimes. It didn't seem fair that he was upfront and honest with her, but she was carrying this huge secret.

If she were truly honest with herself, it was a little bit of vanity and jealousy as well. Kai had made no bones about the fact that he had watched and wanted her double long before she showed up. Bonnie was done being anyone's second choice, if she was going to be with Kai, it would be as Bonnie Sheila Bennett, and not as an imposter.

Getting absolutely nowhere with her thoughts, she finally climbed out of the tub in despair, this time there were no easy solutions. She was halfway through blow-drying her hair when she decided to just let it be. 'It's not like anybody I care about will be here to see it.' She thinks to herself. She opens the bathroom door to get a fresh change of clothes-

And runs right into a hard chest.

She leaps back and shoots a fist out on pure instinct. Her aim is off and so she ends up barely glancing his neck. Kai steps back and raises his hands, "Whoa, it's just me."

Bonnie takes a minute to calm her racing heart before glaring up at him. "You couldn't have announced yourself?"

"I called out when I came back!" He said defensively.

"The blow dryer was on."

"Yeah, I know, I heard it."

"So don't you think you should have tried again when it was shut off?" Bonnie has no idea why she's spoiling for a fight when a minute ago she was thinking of ways to make amends. She takes a deep breath, "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just-"

"I'm sorry for just walking out like that." He cuts her off.

Bonnie is already shaking her head, "No, I get it. You needed time to come to terms with what I told you."

"But I shouldn't have just left. I know you, and I know that you have …..issues with people walking out on you, and not knowing if they're gonna return." He paused and looked at her, "I know you." He repeats as if it just dawns on him.

Unbidden, tears start to well up in her eyes. "Yeah, you do." She choked out, "more than anyone else nowadays."

* * *

Bonnie takes a bit to grab some clothes and splash some water on her face, while Kai orders up room service to go with their forgotten donuts that he brought earlier.

Once they've settled and each have had a bit to eat, Bonnie broaches the subject first. "You believe me?"

He nods slowly, "I do. It's crazy, but when I stopped to think about it, it makes perfect sense."

"It could have been a result of the accident, though. What about it makes sense to you?" Bonnie pressed. He looked down and drank the last of his coffee, "You know how I told you I used to watch you?" He begins.

"Kinda stalkery, by the way, but yes."

"Well this won't make you feel better about it then. I did it for a good while, God, Liv used to give me such shit about it." He laughs to himself, "but I wasn't lying when I kept mentioning there was something different about you. The way you look at people, especially after you first woke up. Like you're sizing them up, expecting them to attack any minute. You were always, and I mean ALWAYS on guard. The only person you were relaxed around was your grandmother, and you were so weirdly protective and clingy with her. I'm guessing there was a reason for that?"

Bonnie nodded, "She'd died. She was the only person that was unequivocally on my side. No matter what happened, I always knew I could count on her. She was my safe place." Kai frowned, "Your mom and dad?"

She shrugged, "Same as here. Abby left when I was around four, my dad was constantly gone on business trips. So after grams died, the few people that I had left, I fought to keep them close." She twisted in her seat. "She…..me.…we aren't the same people, but deep down we have pretty much the same fears and insecurities. The difference was in how we handled them, we both developed some pretty damn unhealthy ways of coping. In the end, it ended up killing us both, if that makes sense."

"I mentioned that you even walk differently, you….she used to just follow along whomever she was walking with. Like she was content with letting them lead the way, but you, you charge to the front and even though you're like five foot nothing," he stops to catch the piece of fruit Bonnie threw at him, "you tend to lead.

"One of biggest thing though, is how you just didn't react to either Damon or Elena. At all, it was weird, like a switch got flipped to off." He winced before admitting, "you should probably know that the rest of us were split pretty much down the middle on whether you were just pretending to not care, and were waiting on an epic blow up like Stefan just had."

"And the other half?" Bonnie was curious to know.

"The other half, which I was firmly a part of by the way, was that the accident was a wake-up call and you decided to let them go."

"Thank you."

He tilted his head quizzically, "For what?"

"For still having faith in her. For believing that she wasn't pathetic or hopeless and writing her off. I know it might seem weird, but I'm kinda protective of her."

He scoffs, "I don't know if you should be thanking me, my motives weren't exactly selfless, Bon. I thought that if she had finally moved on from douchebag, that she'd suddenly see me."

"Oh Kai," she reached across the table and laid her hand over his.

"Did I ever have a chance with her?" He asks quietly.

"Kai." She tightens her hand on his.

"The truth please." He seems to be bracing himself.

"No. She was pretty firmly lost in Damon-land." Bonnie tried to be as gentle as possible.

"I figured." They sat in silence for a while. "Thanks for not sugar coating it. I know this must be awkward as hell for you." He moves his hand from under Bonnie's, and even though it sends a sharp pain straight to her heart she lets him go.

He surprises her by turning her hand over and starts tracing the lines on her fingers and palm. "That was another difference, how you reacted to me. I would love to say that we had been on our way to building something, but that would have been wrong. She never responded to any advance I made towards her. She was nice and all, but I knew she wasn't interested. I'm sure everyone thought I was just beating my head against a brick wall, but I hoped that one day she would wake up to see what else the world had to offer.

Then to my surprise, she did wake up. Only, it was the complete opposite to what I wanted. She didn't want anything to do with Damon, but she didn't want anything to do with me either. I could not figure it out."

"Kai, you…he and I…" Bonnie searches for the right words. "We started off wrong, and it got so much worse from there. We both did things that made it impossible for us to be anything but two people that needed to stay far away from each other. I died hoping he'd stay locked up in the prison I made for him."

She sees his eyes widen, "I'll tell you everything later, but just know that, like you and she wouldn't have worked, me and him there was the same. It just wouldn't have happened." He is silent for a while before nodding, "Okay, fair enough." He looks down at his fingers still tracing the lines on her palm. "So, you and Damon never…" He trails off.

Bonnie doesn't even try to hide the disgust on her face, "God, no. I hated him when we first met, and there was an attempt or two on both sides to kill the other, eventually it settled into friendship. But it was years and years in the making, and I had to deal with his put-downs, his condescension, his arrogance along the way just to bring out the decent person that I actually liked being around.

I'm not gonna lie, I was starting to do the same thing here. Remember when we hung out Tyler and Matt and I crushed them at Mario Kart?" He nods, "Damon was at my door that night, looking to vent about Elena and the whole baby shower planning stuff."

Kai's eyes widened, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Yeah we cracked open a bottle of bourbon-"

"Since when do you drink bourbon?" He asked.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "I swear on all that is Holy if one more person asks me that. Anyways, I invited him in, we drank, and for a minute, I had my friend back. I could pretend that we were just hanging out like old times." Bonnie smiled to herself.

"So what happened?"

"What normally happens, he opened his big mouth. Something about how he missed talking to me and how I was a great sounding board. I fucking lost it, he had no idea I wasn't the Bonnie from before. So that means this self-centered asshole came up in her house to bitch about his wife, who was her best friend at one time, about details of a baby shower, knowing damn good and well that she was pregnant at one time and lost the baby.

Exactly how much of an idiot could one person be? Then I realized, it's not my problem. I'd done all the work before to bring out a fairly likeable person, but I'd be damned if I was going to go through years of bullshit again, so I ripped him a new asshole and threw him out."

"Great choice."

"I thought so." Bonnie preened. "So all that is to say, me and Damon? Not a thing, never was a thing, and especially after meeting this one, never will be a thing. Besides, I was already catching feelings for someone else."

Kai raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah, who?"

"Matt." Bonnie deadpanned.

"That was unnecessary Bennett-Hopkins." Kai said.

"Actually, it's just Bennett. We don't…..didn't hyphenate our names."

"Anything else?" He wonders.

"My middle name is Sheila, not Elise."

Kai laughs, "Your grandmother must love that."

"Oh yes, and now that you are in the know, be on the lookout for her saying 'Bonnie Sheila' when she's aggravated with me."

They both laugh, and Bonnie takes the opportunity to tangle his fingers with hers. "I know I just dropped a bombshell on you, and the fact that you're even sitting across from me still amazes me, but if you need us to take a break while you wrap your head around this, I'll totally understand. No guilt or anger on my part. I don't want you to feel like I duped you into this, or stay because you feel sorry for me." She hears Elena's words knocking around in her head. "But just so you know, I want this. I want you…us. I can be patient while you figure out what it is that you want."

"No." Kai's voice is definitive.

"No?"

"Are you gonna repeat everything I say?" He calls back to that time in his office when she asked him out. "I know what I want. I know _who_ I want." He tightens his grip on hers, "when I was walking around earlier, I thought about everything that's happened since you woke up. If someone were to ask me what I liked about you, I'd be listing things that came _after_ your accident, after the switch was made.

Did I like her? Yes. Every now and then, I kept seeing flashes of this amazing woman who I thought I could help bring out. I was in love with the idea that I could save her, you know, become her knight in shining armor. But you, you don't need anyone to save you, we're more equals than anything, and that is so much better.

I'm not going to be constantly worrying if you're gonna change your mind and revert back to the old you that was hung up on some asshole that doesn't deserve you. I won't be thinking that I'm just a place holder until he gets his shit together and tries to win you back. I fully admit that this is my ego talking, but I love knowing that I'm your first choice." He finishes.

"I may not need anyone to fight my battles for me, but let me tell you, I appreciate the fact that if I need backup, I've got it. I know now that I'm not alone anymore, and I needed that."

Bonnie pulls her hand from his and walks around the table to stand in from of him. Just like she did on their first date in the park, she cups his face in her hands.

"Hi. I'm Bonnie Sheila Bennet"

"Hi, Bonnie Sheila Bennett, it's nice to finally meet you." Bonnie's original plan was to seal the moment with a kiss, but hearing Kai say her (actual) name is more than she can take. She bursts into tears and he gently gathers her up in his lap and lets her release all her pent up emotions.

* * *

They decide to table Bonnie telling him specifics about her world until they're back in Mystic Falls, each wanting to just enjoy the time they had left alone together. Instead they're lying in bed completely wrapped around each other, half watching food network, when Bonnie remembers they were supposed to be doing something today. "Didn't we have that brewery tour today?"

Kai looks at the clock, "Yep, we already missed the start, though. We'll just have to catch it the next time we're in town." He tosses out carelessly.

"Next time?"

"Yeah, I figured we didn't really get to see too much this go round. We need to plan for a longer stay, with no business involved whatsoever."

Bonnie sits up against the headboard, "Are you asking me to take another trip with you Mr. Parker?" He places his head in her lap, and purrs when she starts massaging his scalp. "Seriously, you need to never stop doing that, and yes I'm asking."

"Then I accept."

They spend the next few hours watching a marathon of Best Baker in America while arguing about which baker is superior.

"You honestly believe that's a good croquembouche? Look at it, it's leaning so far over that-" He stops right when the dessert starts to fall apart. "yep, it wasn't stable enough." He finishes smugly.

"What do they do with all the extra food?" Bonnie wonders. "I know they're not eating it all, so does it go into the trash?"

"Maybe it goes to the crew, or it's donated." Kai is half asleep in her lap, but jolts awake as she lets out a small scream. "What happened?"

"He was setting his cake up and dropped it! It looked so good too." Bonnie moaned in despair.

"I would never serve that," she hears Kai remark as she comes back from a bathroom break.

"Can you make that?" Bonnie can already feel her mouth watering. He looks over at her, "maybe, if I have the right incentive."

Bonnie thinks it over before a sly smile appears, "you know, I wasn't totally bullshitting with Lily. I really did go and buy new lingerie. It would be a shame if it never got worn and just sat all alone in drawer." She sighs dramatically. Kai blinks at her then goes to his phone.

"Who are you calling?" She asks bewildered.

"Luke, he can have all the ingredients ready and waiting by the time we get back."

"Hang up the damn phone, Parker."

* * *

Seeing as they had missed their normal scheduled dinner, they were currently trying to decide on a new place to eat. Kai had let Bonnie choose the place, and since she didn't feel like venturing too far from the hotel, and had a hankering for seafood, Jake's Famous Crawfish seemed to fit the bill.

"This place looks good." Bonnie holds up her phone so Kai can see.

"Great pick, they have awesome seafood."

As they walked hand in hand to the restaurant, Bonnie felt downright giddy. She had told him who she really was, and he still wanted to be with her. Of course she still had to tell him about his other self and what he did to his family, but that would come later.

Right now they were discussing what to order and how to handle the Stefan situation.

"I don't know, maybe he needs to leave again. Go travel some more, take more pictures to clear his head." Bonnie suggests.

"It's bullshit that he should leave his home, though. Why can't that whole family just move somewhere else? It's not like they don't have the money to do it." Kai grumbles.

"Honestly, I think it's because they want to drag him down to their level, they're all miserable and Stef is the only one that has a fighting chance to escape that. Cause let me tell you, once the shine is off and the reality of having a baby sets in, both Damon and Elena are gonna be wishing for a way out."

Their food arrives and it tastes as good as it smells. Bonnie is on a food high when she notices Kai is watching her devour her Etouffee. She gestures to her dish, "you wanna try some?" He shakes his head and goes back to his blackened catfish, but a few minutes later, Bonnie notices he's staring again.

"Okay, what? Do I have something on my face?" She wipes her face with her napkin, but it comes away clean.

He laughs, "No, it's just I'm realizing now, that this is the most I've seen you eat."

"That's not true. Remember the taco and burritos challenge at Tyler's a while back?" Bonnie defended. She sure as hell remembered, she hasn't wanted a taco or burrito since then.

"No, I mean that was impressive, but no. I mean now that I know, I've been going over every little thing and I'm realizing that before, I never really saw you….her eat. It would be a snack here and maybe a small meal there, but I've seen you eat more in the last seven months than I did in all the time I knew her." Kai says in amazement, shame coloring his voice.

"Don't" Bonnie says.

"Don't what?"

"Compare the two of us, it will only drive you up the wall, believe me. That's all I did for the first few months and I can't count how many times I gave myself a headache. So I've stopped, except when I run into someone that I knew in my old world, which reminds me." She takes a drink, "I actually knew Nora and Mary-Louise."

Kai's eyes nearly bug out his skull, "What?"

"Yep. It's so nice to have confirmation that Mary-Louise is catty in any world."

"Why was she catty in your world?"

"Jealousy, she thought Nora and I were having a thing. Nora and I may have egged her on a bit, but that issue soon resolved itself."

"Wait, go back, what exactly do you mean egged her on?"

Bonnie lifted a shoulder, "You know, turn up the flirting, inside jokes, all that good stuff. Wouldn't have worked out, she was devoted to Mary-Louise, so it would have fizzled anyway."

He narrows his eyes, "I knew there was a reason she wanted to go to dinner while you were here! After she met all of you that day, she kept asking questions about you in particular. I just thought she was being a good friend by listening to me pine."

Bonnie can't help it, she starts to laugh. He just looks so insulted

They split dessert and decide to head back to the hotel, their flight was at nine a.m. and after the emotional day they had, a good night's sleep was badly needed.

* * *

The flight back to Mystic Falls seemed shorter to Bonnie. In no time at all, they were gathering their luggage and stepping outside to meet Luke who had agreed to pick them up. Instead Bonnie was accosted by an irate Caroline, with an exasperated Nik not too far behind.

"Love, I told you to let them settle in at first." Nik was trying to take hold of Caroline's hand, but her normally bubbly friend was on a mission it seemed. "I need to just ask, Nik!" She continued to say.

Bonnie traded looks with Kai, she could tell they both were thinking the same thing, "We should have stayed in Portland."

Bonnie waved off Nik, "It's okay, Nik. What's up Care?"

Caroline visibly calmed herself, "Did you or did you not give Ms. Cuddles to Elena?"

Bonnie frowned, "Elena's got Ms. Cuddles?" Which was the right thing to say apparently. Caroline turned to Nik with a triumphant, "I told you!"

"Can somebody tell me what's going on?" Bonnie asked, thoroughly confused at this point. "What does Ms. Cuddles have to do with Elena?"

"Can we at least get debriefed while on the move?" Kai suggests, "Cause we're kinda sorta blocking the way." He gestures to how their little group has interrupted the flow of passengers. "Fine." Caroline grabs Bonnie's suitcase and leads the way to Niks car, while Luke is waiting for Kai to load up his luggage.

The couple look at each other with the realization that they're back in the real world now, having to go their separate ways again. Kai picks Bonnie up in a hug before planting a kiss on her waiting lips, "I'll be seeing you soon, Bonnie Sheila Bennett."

She knows she's grinning like a loon, but it does something to her when she hears him say her actual name. She gives him one last kiss before removing herself from his arms and sliding into the backseat of Niks car, where Caroline is already in story telling mode.

"You will not BE-LIEVE, what this evil bitch did!" Caroline starts, Bonnie makes eye contact with Nik in the rearview mirror and the two share a silent laugh.

Sheila had swung by to welcome her granddaughter back, and had stayed to chat while she was unpacking and dividing up her souvenirs. Bonnie took the opportunity to tell her that she had told Kai the truth, and that he had taken it very well.

"I always knew that boy had a good head on his shoulders." Sheila nodded while sipping some of the tea Bonnie had brought back for her. "Will you tell anyone else?"

Bonnie stopped to think, "I don't think so. It's not that they don't deserve to know, but I just don't want them looking or treating me any differently."

"So why tell Malachai?"

"I wasn't going to, but I realized I wanted…needed him to know who it was that he was with. I didn't like the idea of us getting serious and him still thinking I was her. It just didn't feel right. If he was going to fall in love, then he needed to know who he was falling in love with." Bonnie explained. "Does that make sense, or do I just sound like I'm jealous?"

"A little jealous, but that's to be expected in a couple first starting out. You want to be the only one the other is thinking of, and that's normal. It also sounds very mature and I'm proud of you for taking that step." Sheila congratulated before taking another sip, 'Of course this means I'll need to have a talk with him."

"What for? You already know Kai and you were at the dinner that we had with Mr. Parker before we left!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"Well that was before you told me that he's in the know. This requires a different talk." Sheila said serenely.

Bonnie flopped on her bed, "Seriously? I think you're being ornery on purpose now." Her grandmother swats at her, "Oh hush, I'm not going to hurt him, a little come to Jesus talk ain't never hurt nobody." She slides closer to Bonnies form on the bed, "Let me tell you about what Ms. Cora and the rest of the congregation was saying about Lillian and Giuseppe. Whew child, now there's a mess in the making."

Bonnie eagerly sits up, there was no gossip like church gossip.


	12. Rescue Me

Of all the things Bonnie thought she'd be doing in this new world, staging a "rescue" for Ms. Cuddles was not one of them. But hey, stranger things have happened.

"Okay, 'Operation Retrieve Cuddles' is officially a go." Caroline stated. She had assembled the group, (minus a few members) in order to finalize the plans for getting the bear back.

Bonnie's very sensible "why don't I just go and ask for it back?" was met with jeers and boo's all around, so she had shrugged and stepped aside. Caroline was spearheading the effort and had somehow managed to get the boys to agree.

Bonnie later found out she had promised them that they could "Rambo it up" as much as they wanted.

As a result, while they all were dressed in various shades of black, the boys had taken it a step further and used Jeremy's art supplies to completely paint their faces and exposed skin in camouflage. Of course once Rebekah and Caroline saw that the boys were painted up, they both wanted to get in on the action as well. Katherine had settled for a line under each eye, while Bonnie had passed altogether, silently praying that they hadn't used water soluble paint, and that it would take a few days to wash off.

They were all grouped together outside the Salvatore manor, hidden in the trees that ringed the property. According to Katherine (and the church gossip Bonnie got from Grams) Damon and Elena were the only one's staying in the house right now. Lillian had decided to go to her summer home in Italy, while Giuseppe went god only knows where. They would both probably show up at the birth of their grandchild, but until then, they were both ghosts. Katherine also passed that due to the shit-show that was the baby shower, Elena had rarely left the house. Under the guise of kindness Katherine had talked her parents into sending Damon and Elena away for some type of pre-baby vacation spa package deal, thus ensuring the house would be empty for the night.

"So, here's the final plan. Tyler, Matt, and Rebekah will go around to the back and gain entry that way. Meanwhile Kol, Jeremy, Kat, and I will infiltrate from the sides. Nik, as our getaway driver, you will need to stay with the vehicle, and Bonnie will be our lookout. You should all have gotten the picture of Ms. Cuddles that Ms. Sheila sent out. Everybody got their walkie talkies?" A synchronized 'yes ma'am' filled the air, and with that, everyone broke off into their individual groups and headed to their assigned locations.

"Well, this is a waste of a perfectly good Friday evening." Nik grumbled. Bonnie smiled while she made herself as comfortable as she could sitting in the back of a windowless van. Where had Caroline even found a van that big?

"Aww it's not that bad, besides, it's not like I had anything special going on anyways."

"Ah yes, the Parker family is away on their family bonding trip. Shouldn't you be tagging along? We all know it's only a matter of time before that hyphen in your name ends with Parker and not Hopkins." Nik teased. Bonnie lets that roll off her shoulders, there's no way in hell she's even remotely ready for something like that. "We've only just started dating Nik, no chance of that happening anytime soon."

They both laugh it off, but Bonnie knows what Kai is really doing with his family this weekend.

Telling him what his other self had done to his family was one of the hardest things Bonnie had ever had to do. What made matters worse was he wanted details, but she couldn't give them to him because her time spent with his double was mostly them maiming or trying to outfox the other, so a lot of his questions went unanswered. As expected, he had been pissed when she revealed she had left other him in 1903.

* * *

 _"What the hell, Bonnie? The guy helps save your life and you turn around and send him back to a prison world?" Kai jumps up and starts pacing the length of his apartment._

 _"It's not like I knew that at the time! I just wanted him gone, he should have left Mystic Falls right when he got out. I don't understand why he stuck around."_

 _"Oh please, it's obvious he wanted to try and make things right with you! Why else would he have stuck around?" Kai is gesturing angrily and his voice has risen, but Bonnie feels no fear, only irritation._

 _"Again, like I was supposed to know that? I've been telling you all week about the mess that was my life before, how people used me for their own gain, how they would pretend to be on my side, just so I could be useful to them. And here is this guy that had spent so much time and effort in torturing me, now all of a sudden, he has a change of heart? He wants to make amends?" Bonnie scoffs. "Yeah, no. I'd seen that movie and I know how it ended."_

 _"You were being used."_

 _"Yeah I get it. I know that now. It's so easy for others to play Monday morning quarterback, but when it's happening, right in that moment? It's not that easy to see, Kai. I really thought I was doing what was best for me, at that time."_

 _Kai is standing on the opposite side of the room, studying her as if he's seeing her for the first time. "If you had all the information, would you still have done it?"_

 _"I honestly have no clue. But that was my life, split second decisions that had ripple effects that came back to bite me in the ass more often than not." Bonnie holds out her hands in supplication. "I'm not perfect, I've never claimed to be. I can be selfish, stubborn, and downright vengeful when the mood suits me."_

 _Kai snorted, "And apparently the mood suited you with him?"_

 _"YES!" She yelled, finally losing her temper. "You weren't there to see the joy in his eyes when he stabbed me, when he siphoned me. You weren't there to hear him talk about killing his whole coven, Kai. Which he actually did later on!"_

 _"After you fucked him over, Bonnie!" He yelled back._

 _"Like you would have been so fucking diplomatic in my position? Aren't you the one that knocked a guy out, just for talking about me? He didn't touch me or make any indication that he would, he just spoke, and you went at him with your fists." She shot back. "But I was supposed to just let this person, who had hurt me before, in to maybe do it again? I'm the wrong one for trying to protect myself?"_

 _"You didn't seem to have a problem letting people walk all over you before, why should my double have been any different?"_

 _"Is that it? You're pissed because I didn't give him chance after chance to hurt me?" Bonnie asked incredulously. "You wanted me to roll my heart out on my sleeve and let any and everybody walk all over me? That is the Bonnie that was here before, and look where that got her."_

 _"Well, it doesn't look like it fared any better for you either. Remember, you still died too." They both sat in silence, before Bonnie stood up to go. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to tell you anymore today, you have a lot to digest already." She was gathering her things to leave when she feels his arms wrap around her waist from behind while he rests his chin on her shoulder._

 _"I'm not pissed at you, per se. Or maybe I am, I don't know." He stumbles over his words. Bonnie rests her hands on his hands and leans her head against his. "No, I get it, take your time." He tightens his grip on her a little, "No matter what road you took to get you here Bonnie Bennett, never doubt that I'm glad you finally made it."_

* * *

"Bonnie?" Nik's voice was soft.

"Hmm?" She half-heartedly answered, still somewhat lost in her musings.

"What do you remember? Of that night?" He asks.

"What night?" At the look on his face, she decides he means the night of the accident. "Oh, that night. Nothing, why?" He studies her face, like he's looking for signs of her lying, and for a second, she feels like she's looking at Klaus.

Which gets her all riled up.

"Why are you asking?" Her voice is sharper than it needs to be, but he's making her very uneasy. He must find (or doesn't find) whatever he's looking for on her face, because he nods once to himself and leans in closer.

"That night, before your accident, we had a run in." He licks his lips nervously. "I had been drinking, and so had you-"

Bonnie's eyes widen in horror, "Please don't tell me we.." she can't even finish the sentence.

He looks confused before it clicks what she's implying and he recoils. "No! I mean, you're pretty, but no." Bonnie sighs in relief.

"No, I was mid-fight with Caroline over something, I can't even remember what it was, and I was drinking my troubles away at that bar on third, you know Jimmy's?" At Bonnie's nod, he continues, "You were already there, don't know how long you'd been there, but you were well on your way to being drunk."

"Do you know why I was there?" Bonnie knew neither she nor her double were ones to drink heavily, especially alone in an environment where they couldn't be sure of their safety. Here, Nik looked uncomfortable.

"I don't know, love. I was in a bad way and I was in no mood to talk to anyone. You wanted to talk and I lost my temper. Told you to stop wishing he would come back to you because he wasn't, and it was pathetic that you kept hoping he was." He said in a rush.

Bonnie winced, "Ouch." It was harsh. Truthful, but probably not the best thing to say to someone who was hanging on by a thread.

"You know me, Bonnie. You know I would never be that deliberately cruel, it was just a bad moment, and you happened to be the one I snapped at. I turned to order a drink, and you were gone. I am so sorry, I should have kept my eye on you." He looked down at the ground.

"Have you been blaming yourself this whole time?" Bonnie asked when he wouldn't meet her gaze. She leaned over and forced his head up, "I do not blame you. It was my dumb-ass decision to go driving off that night. Stop beating yourself up about this." She thought back over the last six months, "Is this why you've been giving me weird looks?"

"I wanted to see if you remembered on your own, but it was weighing on me. I think I'm going to tell Caroline. I don't want any secrets between us." Bonnie made a face, "Make sure you tell her after a day of pampering, and if it helps, tell her that I don't blame you at all." She impulsively hugged him, "You're a good man, Nik. I'm glad you two found each other." He blushes and returns her hug.

They sit in the open back of the van listening to the conversations going back and forth over the walkie talkies.

 _"I told you to enter from the back!"_

 _"Heh, heh, enter from the back."_

 _"Oh my god, how old are you again?"_

 _"I think we're in the wine cellar."_

 _"Why are you in the wine cellar, you're supposed to be upstairs?"_

 _"Sorry, not sorry. Elijah likes this expensive red that I spotted here and hid just so I could…yep there it is."_

 _"Kat, see if they have that Rose that we tried at that one place."_

Nik snorts, "Very descriptive, Beks. No way she-"

 _"Yeah they do! Bonnie, you want a bottle?"_

 _"Hell yeah."_

 _"HELLO! This is supposed to be a rescue mission."_

 _"We're rescuing these poor neglected bottles."_

 _"We're rescuing Giuseppe's scotch."_

 _"WHY ARE YOU IN THE STUDY?"_

Caroline sounded like she was seconds from strangling all of them.

 _"Okay, found the stash."_

 _"Who's stash?"_

 _"Not that kind. I mean the gifts from the baby shower."_

 _"It's like a bloody toy store exploded in here."_

It goes quiet for a while before the walkie talkies crackle to life again.

 _"Okay, it's obviously not here. Do you think she got rid of it?"_

 _"Jeremy I will skin your sister alive if she did, after the baby is born of course."_

 _"Fine, we'll take something of hers."_

 _"YES! A bear for a bear!"_

 _"Why are you yelling? I'm right here."_

 _"Grab a bear, and let's go."_

 _"She didn't mean for all of you to grab a bear, you idiots!"_

The front door explodes open. Kol, Tyler, and Jeremy all have a bear and a bottle of something in their hands. Caroline is hot on their heels, yelling at them to put one of something back. Katherine, Rebekah and Matt follow at a slower pace. Their arms are bear-less, but laden with bottles of alcohol.

"Yeah, that went as well as I thought it would." Bonnie said before she got up to help load their ill-gotten gains.

* * *

The day after the bear rescue gone bad, Bonnie dropped by her grams to pick up the cinnamon raisin bread that Sheila had made before making her way to see Stefan. He was still staying in one of the cabins that the Mikealsons owned for the time being. Giuseppe's threat of disowning him hadn't been idle. He had taken Stefan off any trusted documents that he had been on, emptied and closed any accounts that had been opened in his name by the family.

He had even gone as far as evicting him from his townhouse that had been bought for him by Lily when he had graduated college. He had also tried to repossess Stefan's classic roadster, but that had long since been transferred into Stefan's name only.

All that had been done to try to bring his second son to heel, and back under his thumb, but Stefan was a lot craftier than either of his parents gave him credit for. He had taken the trust that had been left to him when he turned 21 and invested well. Since he also earned a steady salary from the travel magazine, as well as his very recent successful gallery showing, Bonnie knew money was the least of his worries.

She was more worried about his mental state. Stefan was not the type to get blitzed during the day and let loose like he did. She had spoken to him since her trip, but sometimes it was hard to gauge how someone is over the phone. Especially someone like Stefan who had a master poker face.

Following the directions that Nik had given her, the drive was a good hour from Mystic Falls. The highway turned into a two lane road with leafy trees on each side. Bonnie bet this would be an awesome drive in the fall, with the leaves changing and falling, she made a mental note to revisit this place later in the year with Kai.

Soon she was turning onto a gravel driveway, Bonnie snorted when she saw the "cabin" that Stefan was staying in. Bonnie had been envisioning a one room log cabin. What was before her was a two story home with a wraparound porch that looked like it would comfortably fit a family of four. She spotted Stefan's car parked in the garage, but there was also what looked like a mustang parked in the spot next to his. She wondered if it was a car that was kept here for the family, it looked like the kind of car Kol would drive.

She had just closed her door and was headed to the passenger side to retrieve the bread when the front door opened and Stefan stepped out. Bonnie admittedly had expected him to look horrible, but other than not shaving, he looked just like normal.

"Are you lost, ma'am."

"I got your ma'am right here, Salvatore." Bonnie was relieved that he didn't look like he'd been wallowing, or drinking his troubles away. He came down and took the bread from her hands, and she got a closer look at him. She's always known that Stefan was a good looking guy, but out here in the natural light, he looks the best she thinks she's ever seen him.

She must have been staring for a while because he frowns, wrinkling his forehead, "What?" Now that she's seen him looking carefree, she wants to keep him like that. She smiles and reaches up to touch his scruff, "Very outdoorsy."

He sheepishly smiles, "Yeah, haven't really feel like shaving for a while."

"It suits you."

"Ah, sweet talker, come on in. I was just making lunch." He throws an arm around her shoulder and guides her inside. It's cozier than Bonnie would have thought with the size of the house, but it still feels homey. The air is perfumed with a heavenly smell, and her stomach rumbles. "Quiet." She shushes.

"I do love a woman that can appreciate a good pasta puttanesca." He jokes.

"Well, how bout you show me how much you love me, feed me." Bonnie demands.

The laugh that she hears is not Stefan's, it's too feminine, it also comes from inside the kitchen while Stefan is standing right next to her. He steers her in the direction of the laugh. "You better be watching that sauce, Branson." Stefan warns. The name doesn't ring a bell in Bonnie's head, so she is completely surprised to see Lexi standing next to the stove.

She had heard of Stefan's longtime friend, of course, but hadn't had the pleasure of officially meeting her. The one and only interaction she'd had with her was when Bonnie was inviting her to pass through her back to the land of the living. The fact that she'd refused due to wanting Stefan to have his brother back, as well as being the only one that noted that with each person passing through her, she was in more and more pain, made Bonnie a bit sad that she'd never gotten to know her.

"Bonnie this is one of my editors at the magazine, Alexia Branson. Lexi this is Bonnie Bennett-Hopkins." Stefan introduced.

"Just Lexi is fine. Alexia makes me sound like a damn debutante." Lexi rolls her eyes.

Bonnie laughs, "It's all good, my whole name sounds like I should be standing next to you. I think it's the hyphen." Stefan fake coughs "Not the right name at the other side of the hyphen." Bonnie and Lexi both stare at him in confusion. He smile brightly. "Who's hungry?"

Lunch is a very relaxed affair, and soon the three are laughing like old friends, and discussing all the places Stefan and Lexi have traveled to and loved. They're talking about Greece when Bonnie mentions she would love to visit there.

"Maybe you and your boyfriend can plan a trip there." Lexi suggests.

Bonnie's imagination goes a little wild as she thinks about sandy beaches and Greek sunsets with Kai next to her. Unbeknownst to her there is a small smile playing on her lips, before she shakes her head. "We're still a little too new for those kind of trips."

"Oh, but this is the best time to go, then. Can't keep your hands to yourselves, nobody around that you know or that you'll see again." Lexi wiggles her eyebrows so outrageously that Bonnie has to laugh. "I'll keep that in mind."

"I'll be sure to have Stefan send you extra pictures when he's there." Lexi says as she gathers their plates.

"You're leaving again?" Bonnie whipped her head around to Stefan.

Lexi pauses as if she just now realized what she said. "Well, shit." She beats a hasty retreat to the kitchen.

Stefan takes a deep breath, "Yeah Bon. That's actually what Lexi is doing here, we're planning my itinerary. I was gonna tell you, I just think it would be best for me if I left for a while again."

He's still talking when Bonnie stands up and goes to his chair and leans down to hug him. "I think you should do what is best for you, I'll always support you, but you better send me lots of pictures. Oh, and shot glasses! I want one from every place you go." Stefan laughed and kissed her temple. "Consider it done."

"Is it safe to come back in?" Lexi calls from the kitchen.

* * *

Bonnie only ends up staying for another hour, but by the time she leaves, she and Lexi feel like old friends. Bonnie extracts a promise that she will come back for Stefan's going away party, and Lexi makes Bonnie promise that she will seriously consider vacationing with Kai in Greece.

Stefan walks her out to her car. "I really, really like her." Bonnie gushes. "Yeah, yeah, everybody loves Lexi." He stops walking for a second before letting out a "huh".

"What."

"Everyone likes her, except Elena and Damon." Stefan says slowly, like it's just dawning on him.

"Shoulda been a big clue there, but whatever, I don't want to think about them. Are you gonna be okay?" Stefan had seemed fine during lunch, but he can masterfully hide his emotions.

He takes a minute to think, "I'm not totally fine now, but I think I will be. I needed that outburst, there was just so much I had been holding in, and it all came out at once. It was everything I should have said earlier, but didn't just to keep the peace, and I'm done doing that. I'm not sorry I said any of it, just wish the venue it happened hadn't been so public."

Bonnie can understand that, "I know exactly what you mean." She gives him one last hug before sliding in her car and leaving the picturesque cabin.

She arrives home to find Kai on her couch. She doesn't even ask why he came back from his family trip early, she's just ridiculously happy to see him. She takes a flying leap over the back of her couch and lands in his lap.

"Hello to you to, Bon. Quick question, why do you have like four teddy bears lined up on your coffee table?"


	13. Unexpected Arrivals

Bonnie was hard at work when Luke stopped by near the end of the day with a package.

"Special delivery!" Luke set the sparsely wrapped box down with a flourish.

"Thanks Luke." Bonnie stood and stretched, the transcript she was working on was time consuming and she'd been hunched over all morning. Luke took a seat on the edge of her desk and looked over what she was working on.

"I have no idea how you know how to read Latin. I thought it was classified as a dead language?" He asked. Bonnie shrugged, "I'm a book nerd, sue me." She made short work of the wrapping paper and opened the box to find a hand-written note by Oscar:

 _Told you I'd be in touch! H_ _ere's a few manuscripts to start._

 _Let's see how good you are, I've got a whole room of these old things._

 _P.S. Vincent says Hello._

"So we're thinking of arranging another Parker family dinner, Jo wants to introduce us to this guy she swears is her soulmate." Luke is rambling on while Bonnie is half listening, she reaches the bottom of the box and her hands feel a hard bound book covered in velvet. She pulls it up and carefully unties the edges of the cloth.

"Whoa, what's that?" Luke appears over Bonnie's shoulder. "Is that velvet?" Bonnie's heart is racing as she lays eyes on the book.

"Oh my God." She breathed. It was a grimoire, Oscar or Vincent had sent her a grimoire. It wasn't labeled as such, but Bonnie could tell what it was supposed to be. "Looks freaky." Bonnie smacked Luke's hand as he reached out to touch. "This is something that I've been looking forward to seeing ever since I started working here." Luke looked at Bonnie, then the book on the desk still half wrapped in the velvet cloth, "Okay, I'm just gonna go, I'll talk to you later."

He passed Elijah on the way out and told him that Bonnie was going crazy over some "grim-something or the other". Elijah stood in the doorway to Bonnie's office and watched her fawn over a book laid on a piece of cloth, he considered asking what it was, but he could tell that she was truly excited over it and decided to wait until later.

She was so engrossed in the grimoire that she didn't notice when everyone else left for the day, the only thing that pulled her from the book was the shrill ringing of her office phone. She had totally forgotten that she had agreed to head over to Matt's place for a Mario Kart rematch. She promised him a full game lead and his choice of snacks in repentance and started gathering her things to go. She was looking over her missed texts while locking up when she heard steps behind her.

"I hope you're happy."

Bonnie looked to the sky in defeat. "I was, up until two seconds ago." She heaved a big sigh "To what do I owe this honor, Elena?" She turned around in time to catch the soft bundle that was thrown in her direction. "Here! That's what you guys were looking for when you ransacked the house wasn't it?"

Bonnie looked down to see Ms. Cuddles, a little worn and definitely older, but her childhood bear all the same. "First of all, I never even set foot in that house," she said truthfully. "Second, why the hell did you even take her in the first place? What kind of evil witch does something like that?"

Elena scoffed, "Oh my god, it's just a stupid bear."

"That obviously meant something to you, in order for you to go through the effort to not only steal it, but also hold on to it all this time, then try to gift it to yourself!" Bonnie shook her head.

"I honestly don't get you, Elena. You literally have everything you ever wanted, so why are you being like this? I could have forgiven both you and Damon for screwing me over, if either one of you had tried, just a little, to not be such assholes about it. If you had actually shown that you understood that your actions hurt a shit-ton of people, and tried to make amends. Maybe, just maybe, we could have salvaged something.

But no, you both come back here acting like everything is the way it always has been, and like you have nothing to atone for. You knew Stefan did not want to attend that damn baby shower, you deserved every single thing he said, and more. He's leaving again because he can't stand to be around you or his brother." She sees Elena's eyes go wide, 'He's leaving before I give birth?"

"NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU!" Bonnie yelled, finally truly fed up with her once friends selfishness. "This, everything you're going through, is called people being sick of your shit and not taking it anymore. That includes me, so if you're finished, actually it doesn't matter if you are, because I am. Goodbye Elena, lord help that little girl inside you." She made sure she had a tight grip on Ms. Cuddles, as well as her newly acquired grimoire and started towards her car.

"You are so self-righteous and judgmental nowadays, it must feel good to finally come out ahead, huh?" Bonnie could hear Elena huffing to keep up with her, "New job, new boyfriend, I only had to leave before it could happen. Or was it your sorry ass suicide attempt? There you go again making everyone feel sorry for you."

Bonnie really wished she had her magic right now. She would have sealed Elena's mouth and teleported her ass back to her home. She was reminded of her Elena and the things she had said when her humanity was off.

 _'You're a walking reminder of everything that's wrong in my life'_ her Elena had said.

At the time Bonnie had wanted to lash out and tell Elena that that was Bonnie's line. Literally every bad thing that happened to her was because she was friends with Elena. Don't get her wrong, she felt for Elena, she had lost a lot of people in her young life, but those losses were from the 'outside'. While every loss she suffered, she could have traced it back to her doe eyed friend, and the trust she put in people who had her, not Bonnie's, best interest at heart. It was something that ate at her, silently whispering in the back of her mind every time she lost something or someone else.

Bonnie abruptly realized she had some latent anger still hanging around, and nobody really to vent to, except Grams or Kai. Suddenly very glad that she had at least two people she could tell her real feelings to, she blocked out whatever Elena was still spouting off about, until she heard a choked gasp. Bonnie turned from putting her things in her car to see Elena slumped against a car, clutching her stomach and looking down in shock at a puddle she stepped in.

Bonnie was about laugh when she realized it wasn't a puddle that Elena had stepped in, her water just broke.

"Oh come on!"

* * *

Luck was on her side for once, the ambulance only took a few minutes to get to where they were. Bonnie was looking forward to handing Elena off to the paramedics, but the girl had developed an iron grip on Bonnie's hand.

"Please come with me. I don't want to be alone." She pleaded. Bonnie initially refused, telling her that she would call everyone to meet her at the hospital. But looking at her once friend who currently looked scared out of her mind tugged at Bonnie's heart strings and she knew she wouldn't be able to just leave her.

"Goddammit." Bonnie grumbled, climbing in to the back of the ambulance.

The entire ride Bonnie spent alternately making sure Elena stayed relatively calm, and making phone calls to ensure other people would be at the hospital so Bonnie could be released.

"KAT! Why are you not answering your damn phone?" Bonnie snapped. "Your sister is in labor. Get off Elijah, and get your ass to the hospital!"

"Jer! Are you with your folks? Yes? Thank God. Where are you? Well I need you back here. Why? Oh, no reason, your sister is in labor and I'm the ONLY ONE in the ambulance with her."

"DAMON! LABOR. HOSPITAL. NOW."

'Grams, I know this is your bridge night, but I'm at the hospital with Elena, she's in labor, nobody is answering their phones. HELP!"

By the time they arrived at the hospital Bonnie was half out of her mind, Elena was alternately crying and apologizing to Bonnie, all the while refusing to let go of her hand.

"I'm sorry, Bonnie. I'm so sorry, don't leave me alone." Elena was frantic. "I was jealous, I was so jealous. I spent my whole childhood anxious that they would see something wrong with me and send me back."

"Is this really the time for this?" Bonnie asked. Why was nobody returning her calls?

"But you, everybody loved you." Elena continued, "You didn't even have to do anything special! I joined every club I could, got straight A's, I had to be extra good because Kat was so bad." She paused to breathe through a contraction before continuing. "Even Damon still adores you! He's always talking about 'when Bonnie did this' or 'that's not how Bonnie did it'."

"Damon is an asshole." Bonnie muttered, trying to switch out her hands so one could get a little relief.

"I was awful to you because I felt so bad about myself, I know what I did was fucked up. I don't blame you if you never talk to me again." Pause for another contraction. There were doctors and nurses all throwing around words like 'dilated' and 'crowning' and Bonnie had no clue what any of it meant, she just wanted someone else here at this moment.

"Are you going to be in the delivery room?" A nurse asked, holding out a hospital gown foe Bonnie to put over her street clothes.

"NO!"

"YES!"

Both girls yelled at once, and then everything descended into chaos again.

* * *

"Okay people, step aside, the cute one's here!" Bonnie nearly cried in relief as Katherine came sashaying around the corner. She quickly tagged out with Katherine, but promised to stick around and wait for others to arrive and provide text updates.

She had been in the waiting room around ten minutes when Grayson and Miranda came crashing through. She wordlessly pointed them in the right direction and they took off. Jeremy arrived shortly after, explaining that he had dropped his parents off at the entrance then went to park the car. He took a good look at her and held out his arms, she gratefully accepted.

"You are going to be an awesome uncle if you keep on giving great hugs like that." She mumbled against his chest, feeling it rumble with laughter. "Come on, let's have a seat." They sat and alternated texting everyone with updates.

Bonnie snuck away with the excuse of heading to the cafeteria, instead she found a quiet corner and called Damon again. The phone rang four times before she heard it connect, and she didn't give him a chance to even say hello before she lit into him.

"I don't know where exactly the fuck you are, but you'd better get your ass here right now! Your wife is about to give birth to your big headed kid. If you don't have your ass here in time, I swear on all that is holy I will-"

"You will do what, love?" The voice that came from Damon's phone did not belong to Damon, but it was a voice she knew all too well.

"Oh, cat got your tongue?" He teased, Bonnie could hear the sound of other cars, so it sounded like they were at least on the road.

"Where is Damon?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, I don't know if I should put him on, you certainly haven't been the nicest in your messages."

"Okay, as cute as this is, I seriously need to know where he is. Are you on your way?" Bonnie refused to get distracted.

"You think I'm cute? Hear that mate, she thinks I'm cute." There was a brief struggle before Damon's voice comes on the line. "Bonnie, I'm minutes away, meet me outside." Then he hangs up.

"The hell….." She starts, but then decides to save it for later. Two minutes later she's outside waiting for Damon when she sees his signature Camaro come roaring up. It screeches to a stop, and Damon hops out of the passenger seat, "Bonnie!" She races over to Damon and hands him her bracelet that will allow him to access the maternity floor. He kisses her on the cheek as he flies by.

"Were you drinking? Un-fucking-believable." She mutters to herself as she wipes her cheek.

"So nice to see you again, Bonnie. I must say, you were much nicer to me when we met before."

Bonnie squinted and pretended to think, "I was in a horrible accident, been having some memory issues. What was your name again?"

He smirks in response, "Lorenzo Saint Augustine" he introduces himself. Bonnie nods to herself; that was why she couldn't find him. "But my friends call me Enzo." He takes Bonnie's hand in his and she gets a flash of _her_ Enzo and their New Year's Eve dance. She has a sudden thought to ask if he plays guitar.

"Well, Lorenzo" she makes sure to emphasize his entire name. "Thank you for bringing Damon back from wherever the hell he was, I'm sure his wife will appreciate it." She slides her hand from his, taking note of how he holds on until the last digit. "I have other places to be, namely anywhere but here. Goodnight."

"Yes I can't imagine being here is your idea of a good evening." He sounds sympathetic, and that is the last thing Bonnie needs right now. "Do you need a ride to your car?"

Just like that Bonnie remembers her car is still parked outside her job. "Shit." She swears. "I rode in the ambulance with Elena, so I don't have my car here." She explains.

He gestures to the Camaro, "Hop in, I'll give you a lift." Bonnie shakes her head. "I'm good, I'll call an Uber."

"Nonsense, I'm parked, illegally I might add, and it looks like I'm going to have to move it soon if that security guard eyeing it gets any closer. Normally I'd let it happen because it's not my vehicle, but Damon has enough on his mind without my pettiness adding to it." He starts walking backwards to the car, "What do you say, love?"

And that is how Bonnie found herself in the car of her ex-boyfriend in this world, with her ex-boyfriend from her old world driving.

* * *

The weird thing about it was that it wasn't weird at all.

They quickly fell into an easy conversation where Bonnie discovered he and Damon met while Damon was abroad one year in college, and the two spent a year wreaking havoc around Europe. When Enzo decided to move to the states for work, Damon had hooked him up with a job at his father's law firm. Apparently he had met this worlds Bonnie a few times as well.

They bantered back and forth the whole ride, turns out this Enzo did play the guitar, as well as piano and a whole host of other instruments. He was currently single, having just amicably split with his boyfriend of one year.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Bonnie sympathized.

Enzo shrugged, "Ah, it was for the best, the relationship was nearing its inevitable conclusion anyway." He leaned over as if to tell her a secret, "He was a little too fond of the closets, you see. I could never be with someone that felt the need to hide. He had his reasons of course, but I think he was just scared to truly come out and be his true self."

"Would you get back together with him if he came out and publicly acknowledged you?" Bonnie wondered.

"Probably not. You see, I'd never be sure if he did it for himself, or if he was just scared of being alone. And I'm not one to pressure anyone, he should come out in his own time."

Bonnie studied his profile, "That is very mature of you, Enzo." He let out a loud laugh, "You sound surprised, love. I admit, in my younger days, I wouldn't have accepted it so gracefully, but with age comes wisdom, yeah?" He took a quick look in her direction, "It also helps that there are so many other delectable options out there to choose from."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Choose someone else, I'm already seeing someone."

"Oh yes, Damon was quite spun up about that, keeps saying he doesn't know what you see in him."

"He's not sleeping with one of my best friends, for one." Bonnie snapped. This world, that world, it didn't matter. Damon was so damn possessive of anything he considers his, and God forbid one of his "possessions" decided to leave.

She directed him to where her car was parked, and he pulled up next to her vehicle. "Thank you for the ride, Enzo." A corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile, "Sweetheart, I can show you a better ride, all you have to do is ask." Bonnie genuinely laughs as she gets out of the car, "Goodbye, Enzo." She turns to unlock her door when he leans out the window.

"It suits you, you know."

"What does?"

His gaze sweeps her from head to toe, and Bonnie has to fight not to fidget. Her Enzo had always been so perceptive when it comes to her, spending three years with only one person will do that to you, so Bonnie wonders if this Enzo can see through her as well.

"This person you've become. You were too docile before, too eager to go along with whatever was asked of you. Someone like that could never have been happy with a person like Damon. He tends to overwhelm in large doses, and overshadow his partner if they let him."

"I let him." Bonnie said softly.

Enzo nodded, "You let him. You were so afraid of having no one that you willingly sacrificed your needs for his. I know a little something about being afraid of being alone, I didn't find my family until later in life, and until then it was just my mother and myself. But I was a veritable stranger, and it's not like you would have listened to anything I had to say."

Bonnie nodded, "Yeah that would have gone in one ear and right out the other."

"You seem happier, more settled."

"I am."

"Good." He settled back into the Camaro. "Well, since you've just shot me down, I think I'll go try my luck elsewhere, there's got to be some guy or girl just looking for a night of carefree fun. Until we meet again, Bonnie Bennett." With a devilish grin he shot off. Bonnie thought it was strange how he only included Bennett and not the Hopkins part of her name, but let it go.

When she arrived home, she made sure to place Ms. Cuddles among her newest stuffed friends. She'd have to find a place for all of them eventually, but she quite liked her growing teddy bear harem. She took a quick shower to wash the day off her, and had intended to settle in and peruse through the grimoire that Oscar (or Vincent) sent. Her focus was off though, seeing Enzo had thrown her for a loop, and the only thing she could think of was wanting to see Kai. She quickly packed a bag and shot him a text, just to let him know she'd be there when he got off work.

Letting herself in, she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. _'This was where she wanted to be.'_ Bonnie busied herself with cleaning up a little, Kai wasn't a messy person, but sometimes things just piled up. Then she put on the kettle for tea, plopped down on his couch to study the grimoire a little, and got lost for a bit.

She was so engrossed that she didn't realize Kai had come home until she felt the hand on her neck.

"Oh Jesus Christ!" Bonnie jumped. "You are so lucky I don't have my magic."

Kai laughed as he leaned over the couch, "Duly noted." He dropped a kiss on her waiting lips, Bonnie reached up to clasp her hands behind his neck to keep him there for a bit. He broke the kiss with a moan, and while Bonnie moved the grimoire from her lap to the coffee table, he climbed over the couch to settle on top of her eager form.

"Off, off." Bonnie tugged at his shirt, anxious to feel his skin beneath her fingers.

"Yes ma'am." Kai obliged happily. He whips his shirt off and Bonnie decides that fair is fair, she makes quick work of her own shirt, flinging it somewhere over her shoulder. Kai groans and presses a hard kiss to her lips, his tongue mapping the interior of her mouth while his hands are preoccupied with her breasts.

 _'More, more, more'_. She's not sure if it's only in her head or if she's chanting it out loud, but he seems to get the idea and drags his mouth down to join his hands. She's tugging on his hair to guide him to where she needs to feel him most, all the while wrapping her legs around his torso and grinding into him.

Bonnie thinks she's going to cry when he pulls away, body arching into his to let him know she's not ready to stop. He kisses a trail up to her ear, "Can I?" Her mind is so fogged up it takes a minute to understand what it is that he's asking. He's got his fingers hooked into her underwear and Bonnie nods enthusiastically, "Hell yes."

She gets a chuckle in return before he drags her panties down, his eyes taking her in when she is finally laying there, totally bare to his gaze. He runs his hands up her thighs and leans down to place a gentle kiss on the circular scar she has on her right side, just shy of her pubic bone.

 _"It's a seal", she explained to him one night when his wandering hands made the discovery. "To keep this soul in this body."_

He kept his kisses feather light until he reached her entrance, then his hunger took over. Bonnie had learned that Kai could stay down there all damn day if she let him, pulling orgasm from orgasm out of her until she begged him to stop.

The first time he had gone down on her, she'd wondered if the Kai in her world was as talented. She wondered if he'd had girls clutching his head and moaning his name like she did with her Kai. If he'd known how to use not only his tongue, but fingers as well to drive them mad. If he refused to let them go until they were a quivering, shaking mess like her Kai did.

She jolted back to awareness when she felt him bite the inside of her thigh, "Eyes on me, Bon."

 _That_ she knew, would probably be the same, both demanded her full attention at all times. Bonnie was rocking into his mouth, hands scrambling to hold onto the couch, his hair, anything to ground herself. She managed to hold on until he crooked his fingers inside of her while sucking hard on her clit, and Bonnie broke, back arching and saying his name over and over like a prayer.

He eased up on his ministrations, kissing his way back up over her stomach, taking his time to taste each of her breasts, scraping his teeth over her collarbone, before finally bringing his mouth back to hers, letting her suck on his tongue so she could taste herself.

Bonnie ran her hands down his sides until she reached his half opened pants, she hadn't realized he had already unbuttoned them. She pulled the zipper the rest of the way down and reached inside to cup his length in her hand. Kai let out a full body shudder and dropped his forehead to rest against hers. Feeling emboldened by his response, she pushed his underwear and pants down even more while stroking him firmly as he rocked into her hand.

"Condom." She rasped out. It took a bit before the word registered in his brain, but Bonnie could tell the moment it did, because he stilled and looked at her. "Yeah?"

Bonnie squeezed his throbbing length still in her hand, his hips jolted and he hissed out a quiet 'fuck'.

"Yeah." She confirmed. The next few minutes are a blur as he somehow gets them both from the couch to his bedroom, managing to shed the last of his clothes along the way. Bonnie takes the condom from his hands while guiding him down on the bed. She takes him in her mouth, reveling in the feel and taste of him, enjoying the way he lightly grips her hair while moaning her name.

She pulls away and rolls the condom on and then straddles him, easing her way down until she has taken all of him. She's still for a minute, then starts to rock gently, getting used to his size before bringing herself up until just the tip is inside, and falling gracefully back down.

Kai is watching her with lust filled eyes, content to let her go as fast or as slow as she wants. His hands are constantly moving, helping her keep whatever pace she sets, playing with her breasts, and every now and then dipping down to stroke where they are joined. Bonnie places her hands on Kai's chest and starts rolling her hips, desperate for the release she can feel building. One of her hands slip and she pitches forward to catch herself, changing the angle of Kai inside her, and that does it.

She clamps down around him and comes with a yell that later on she will be embarrassed by, but for right now all she can feel is pleasure shooting through her. She can vaguely hear Kai murmuring in her ear, but can't focus on what he's saying. The world twists and she suddenly finds herself looking _up_ at Kai. He wraps one of her legs around his waist and starts thrusting, and Bonnie can feel herself climbing again.

He leans forward to take her mouth in a deep kiss, all the while his hips never stop moving. Bonnie feels wiped out, would be content to just let him reach his peak, but she's forgotten who she's with. Kai is greedy, and wants nothing more than to see her fall apart by his hand again. He slips an arm around her waist and hauls her up against him. "Come on, Bon. One more…..just for me." He cajoles.

Well, Bonnie is nothing if not giving.

She locks her legs around his waist, digs her nails in his back, and clenches on every down stroke. It's not long before he starts to thrust erratically while tightening his grip. He reaches between their bodies and strokes her once, twice, and that's it, she's off. Again. She tries to muffle her scream by biting his shoulder, and apparently he likes a little pain, because his hips sputter and he's coming with a low moan.

They stay locked like that for a while, trying to catch their breath before it starts to get a little uncomfortable. Kai lays her on the bed gently, then goes to dispose of the condom. When he comes back, she hasn't moved an inch. So he maneuvers her under the blankets and wraps her up in his arms. Their breaths are the only sound in the room until…

"Oh yeah, this is definitely the better world."


	14. Not the Only One

Judging by the looks Liv was throwing her way, Bonnie knew she was being a pain but she did not care.

"Stop. Please just stop. I'm getting nauseous just looking at you." Liv grumbled.

Bonnie's smile widened. "What are you talking about? I'm just sitting here, trying to have a nice lunch with all of you." She took a bite of her pizza innocently.

"I'm getting a refill, please fix your face by the time I get back." Liv walked off to the rest of the table giggling maniacally.

"Okay, not that I don't love this glow you've got about you, but Liv is right. Can you tone it down a bit?" Rebekah asked.

Caroline snorted, "Oh please, when you and Matt first started screwing, we couldn't get you to shut up about him."

Bonnie offered Caroline some of her fries, "Thank you Care bear." Katherine leaned over, "Although, if you're in a sharing mood…." She hinted.

Bonnie shook her head, "Sorry ladies, I don't kiss and tell. I wouldn't have even said anything if she and Luke hadn't walked in on us."

* * *

 _Since Elijah had graciously given her the next day off after learning that she had been the one to get Elena to the hospital and stay with her until the others showed up, Bonnie spent the entire next day and night with Kai, who had called in to work as well. Both turned off their phones and took their time getting lost in each other._

 _"I have to tell you something." Bonnie said as she sat on the counter, watching Kai chop up ingredients for an omelet._

 _"You're really a spy and now that you've blown your cover, you have to kill me." Kai guessed._

 _"What?"_

 _"What?"_

 _"No, weirdo." She pulled him back so she could wrap her legs around his waist and gently nipped his shoulder. He playfully yelped, but settled down when she kissed the spot in apology. She rested her head on his back, "I met Enzo yesterday." She felt him tense._

 _"Really?" The question was muted, as if he didn't really want to hear her answer._

 _"He and Damon were out somewhere when I called about Elena going into labor and he drove Damon to the hospital. Then since I had ridden in the ambulance with Elena, he drove me to my car." Bonnie explained._

 _"What was that like?" He was still using his quiet voice. He tried to pull away, but Bonnie kept her legs locked._

 _"Honestly? A little weird, but no weirder than meeting this world's version of people that I've known. He was pretty much the same. Different last name, though." She said off-handedly._

 _Kai ran a hand up her leg, "Did he say anything?"_

 _Bonnie snorted, "It's Enzo, of course he did. But he also mentioned he'd just broken up with his boyfriend, so I think it was more like flirting just because it's his default, you know? In any case, I'm glad I saw him." She dropped a kiss behind his ear._

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Yeah," Bonnie unhooked her legs and turned him to face her, "and the first thing I thought was 'I can't wait to tell Kai'." She cupped his face in her hands, "I didn't want to hide it from you."_

 _He studies her for a moment, "So there were no residual feelings?"_

 _She kisses his forehead. "I'll always be thankful to him for being there for me, and a part of me will always love him for that. But I'm not in love with him, no."_

 _He continues to study her for a minute before letting out a breath and leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers, "Then I'm glad you saw him too." He angled his mouth to meet hers, and the next few minutes were spent hurriedly taking off the clothes they had just put on._

 _They were so pre-occupied that they didn't hear the door unlocking, nor the steps heading into the kitchen, but they did hear Liv's screech of "OH MY GOD!" and Luke's very dry "Well, never eating in your kitchen again."_

* * *

Bonnie had decided that since Liv was being so dramatic about it, she would have fun and troll the life out of her. When Liv refused to sit on the couch, Bonnie nodded sagely, "Good choice." The look of disgust on her face was well worth it, in Bonnie's opinion.

She wore the same pinched look when they all met up for lunch the next day as Katherine grilled Bonnie on where she had disappeared to that night. Between Bonnie's sudden 'glow' as Rebekah put it, and Liv's grumpier than usual face, it wasn't all that hard to figure out what had happened, and how it was that Liv came to know about it. For her friends' sake, she quickly put a stop to all the raunchy talk, she may not have had any siblings, but she could guess that it wasn't fun to hear about their sex life with one of your friends.

Instead they all sat listening to Katherine as she finished letting everyone in on what happened the night Elena gave birth.

"So Damon comes running in and he's like blitzed-"

"He was out drinking? All the while knowing his wife was in her last weeks?" Caroline shrieked.

"Yep," Katherine took a sip from her water cup, "so he comes in all "I'm here, I'm here" and Elena is giving him all kinds of hell, and screaming that he'll never touch her again. It was awesome to watch."

"So how long was she in labor?" Rebekah asked.

Kat rolled her eyes, "Forever it seemed. God you would have thought she was the first and only woman to ever give birth. Towards the end, I was seconds from reaching up there and pulling Tatia out myself."

Bonnie choked while taking a drink, "That's what they named her?"

Katherine took out her phone and they all crowded around to take a good look at the newest little Salvatore. Bonnie had to admit, she was a cute baby. Kat had taken dozens of photos with her niece, and even had one as her screensaver.

"She is adorable." Bonnie admitted with a sigh, settling back into her seat. She saw Caroline nudge Katherine out the corner of her eye and gesture in her direction. Katherine widened her eyes and quickly pulled her phone back, while Liv attempted to change the conversation.

"So when are you coming over for that re-match? The boys were disappointed they couldn't wipe the floor with you." Liv asked.

"Ha! As if." Bonnie scoffed. "Can't do it tonight, I've been promising grams that we'd have a Bennett girls night. We can do it Thursday if that's cool with them." Liv nodded and said she'd check.

"I've gotta get back, I'm on babysitting duty this afternoon." Kat stood and collected her trash to throw it away. Caroline and Rebekah followed, supposedly there was a town meeting they had to attend to discuss the next Miss Mystic Falls pageant, and they were dropping Kat off on the way.

However Bonnie had a sneaking suspicion that it was a cover story and they wanted to swing around and see the baby, but didn't want to appear 'disloyal' to Bonnie. She would have told them straight out that she didn't mind; if they wanted to coo over the baby, then more power to them.

She bid them goodbye and looked over at Liv with a wry smile. "I'm not sure who they think they're fooling."

Liv burst out in laughter, "Oh good, I thought I was the only one who caught on to that." She settled down and looked at Bonnie, "So it really doesn't bother you?"

Bonnie shook her head while she gathered their trash to throw it away. "Nope. I'm pissed she tried to re-gift my teddy bear to her kid to make herself look good, but everything else? Nah, I'm over them, and I wish they'd get the memo and leave me alone. Although that shouldn't be a problem now that the baby is here."

They both walked back to Bonnie's job, shit talking each other about the upcoming game night. Bonnie somehow ended up agreeing to attend the next Parker family outing if she lost. She was putting away her purse while eyeing Liv who was lingering by her door. "Are you hanging around? Cause I can find something for you to do if you're bored." Bonnie teased.

"No, I just wanted," Liv started then stopped. "Okay, if my brother knew I was about to say this, he'd have my ass, but I'm just gonna say it."

"Okay…." Bonnie didn't know what Liv was about to say, but the other girl looked uncharacteristically nervous.

"No, it's nothing bad, I just wanted to say thank you for giving Kai a chance. I really didn't think you'd pull your head out of Damon's ass long enough to notice he liked you." Liv said in a rush.

"Aw, how sweet of you." Bonnie said sarcastically.

"No, you know what I mean." Liv protested looking down at her intertwined fingers, "I thought it was hopeless, you turned down everyone, not just my brother. After your accident, though, it was like you were a whole different person."

Bonnie mentally snorted, 'you have no idea' she thought to herself.

"You seemed wary as hell of him at first, which honestly, was a welcome change from the just flat out disinterest you had before." Liv continued. "Then you started to actually respond, and I got my hopes up that you were opening yourself up to someone else. Not just for my brother's sake, but you seem happier now too."

Bonnie studied Liv for a minute, unsure of how to respond. For all her brashness and flippant attitude, Bonnie had learned that Liv was more intuitive and sensitive that what she portrayed. "I was worried that this was temporary, especially when Damon came back. I was so scared that you were just using him as a placeholder."

Bonnie shook her head, "Kai isn't a placeholder, Liv. I wouldn't do that to him." She rushed to assure her.

Liv nods, "I know that now, and so does he. We could tell when you guys came back from Portland that something significant had happened, I can count on one hand the number of people that know about his diagnosis. I guess all this is to say that I think you two are good for each other…..and I promise to call before I come over from now on."

Bonnie waited a beat before engulfing Liv in a hug. She hadn't had any worries about Liv or any of the Parkers for that matter, not approving of her relationship with Kai. "That's good to hear, cause we plan on making up for all that lost time." She said, pulling back with a wink.

Liv rolled her eyes and tried to disentangle herself from Bonnie's embrace, "Okay moment over, let me go."

Bonnie held on tighter, "Nope. You love me."

"Right now, I'm barely tolerating you."

* * *

Bonnie headed over to her grams' place after work, making sure to bring the grimoire that Oscar had sent with her.

"Grams!" Bonnie called out as she entered.

"Kitchen!"

Bonnie followed the smell of something delicious into the kitchen where she found her grandmother taking a chicken out of the oven and settling it on a platter to rest. Bonnie walked over and kissed her grandmother on the cheek, then grabbed the silverware and started setting the table.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to come up for air." Sheila came to a stop near her. "I was about to send the National Guard after you."

"You were not."

"I might have. Julia Woodard said she heard from one of her daughters' boys, you know the one does delivery, that he delivered pizza to three of Kai's neighbors over the course of three days and that your car was parked outside the whole time."

"You can tell Ms. Julia's daughters' boy that he can mind his own damn business." Bonnie snapped before she remembered who she was with. "Sorry grams."

Her grandmother cracked a wide smile, "No need, I told her the same thing. Gonna try and talk about my grand-baby, hmph." She turned back to the platter and started carving up the chicken. "She's lucky she's even allowed back in the church after some of the dirt she did back in the day. At least you two are grown and single, and that's all I'll say about that." Bonnie grinned, she loves that her grandmother is ride or die.

Bonnie brings out the grimoire and as they eat, they pore over the pages. She tells her grandmother she is pretty sure it belonged to an ancestor of theirs. She also tells her that she and Kai had 'words' again about Bonnie's other life.

* * *

 _She finally got around to telling him about the grimoire that Oscar sent when he found it on the floor. "What's this?" He picked up the book, flipping through it absent-mindedly._

 _Bonnie poked her head out of the kitchen, "Oh! I brought that over because I wanted to show you what a grimoire looked like."_

 _Kai looked down at the book, "This is a grimoire? I thought they'd look more magical, you know, like the book in Hocus Pocus."_

 _Bonnie snorted and sat next to Kai on the couch, "There's no magic in this world, remember?" She took the book from him. "At least not overtly, and a grimoire can look like whatever you want it to. You can use a notebook, a diary, or something like the book in Hocus Pocus."_

 _"What did yours look like?" Kai asked. Bonnie smiled sadly, "I didn't have one of my own, I inherited my grams' books, and later, the grimoires of other witches." Briefly she thought of the Martins, and their cache of books. "I never took the time to sit and make one of my own."_

 _"What goes into one, what makes it a grimoire?"_

 _"Spells, hexes, and curses for the magical books. Ingredients for salves, what particular plant or herb is used to cure illness, stuff like that for the non-magical books." Bonnie listed. "Some also use it as a place to write down their coven or family history._

 _Since there's no real magic here, you won't find any spells or anything like that in here, what you will find are stories." She pointed to a weathered page that held a symbol that she had come to know well enough. "This is why it was sent to me, this symbol here is ancient Greek for an ancestor of mine, Qetsiyah."_

 _Kai looked up in surprise, "Are you serious?"_

 _"Totally, Qetsiyah in this world had no magic, so she couldn't do any of the stuff the Tessa in my world could, but she did have dreams. I'm pretty sure she was somehow looking in on the other Qetsiyah and kept trying to recreate what she was doing."_

 _"That must have sucked." Kai sympathized._

 _"I think it drove her mad because no matter what she tried, she could never get a spell to work." Bonnie gave a self-deprecating laugh. "I should know. It's frustrating as hell when something that you're putting your heart and soul into just doesn't come together."_

 _Kai leaned over and kissed her cheek, "I'm sure you were a good witch."_

 _Bonnie outright laughed, "I sucked. Especially in the beginning. I had power, but no finesse. I had no idea how to do anything, and taking a break to learn was not really an option most of the time. I just….sucked it up and threw something out there and hoped for the best."_

 _She looked at Kai, "You, and the rest of the Gemini, God. It looked so effortless. Every movement was graceful, purposeful, like you were at home in your own skin and totally at ease with your power. Even you, who had just come into power, you still handled it loads better than I did!"_

 _Kai looked away, he never liked hearing about what his other self had done, especially when it came to his family or her._

 _"Would you have accepted his help?"_

 _Bonnie looked at Kai in confusion, "Who's help?"_

 _"Mine…..his. If he had come to you and said something like 'hey, I merged with Luke, I'm a changed man. I gotta go lead this coven, but you can come too and learn more if you want' would you have even considered it?" Kai was looking intently at her._

 _"Honestly, probably not. He had firmly cemented himself in the "enemy" camp." Bonnie admitted, knowing exactly where this was headed._

 _"But so had Damon at one point, right?" Kai argued._

 _"Yes, and I fully admit that. But, as bad as this is going to sound, we needed Damon. We needed his strength, his ability to step over that line that we all wanted to, but couldn't bring ourselves to. He was the monster that we knew, and could somewhat control through Stefan and Elena. When he puts his mind to it, Damon is a force to be reckoned with, and we fared better with that force on our side. And over time, we became friends"._

 _He shut the book forcefully, "Yeah, all it took was you constantly throwing your life away for it to happen."_

 _"Kai."_

 _He tossed the book on the table and pulled her in his arms, "I just hate that you had to go through all that, but at the same time I'm glad because it led to you being here. Does that make me a bad person?" He rested his head on top of hers._

 _"No, it makes you human." Bonnie settled into his side comfortably._

* * *

"You've got that boy whipped in two worlds." Her grams laughs. Bonnie waves it off and distracts Sheila with the story of meeting Enzo for the first time in this world. Her grandmother is sitting rapt with wide eyes, and Bonnie is sure her grandmother sees her life as one of her daytime 'stories' to keep her entertained.

Thursday comes and Bonnie is hyped. She, Matt, and Tyler have all been trash texting each other all day. She calls out a quick good night to Elijah and jets off to the duplex that the boys live in.

"Okay, get ready to bow down, bitches!" She bursts through the door raring to go.

"Damn, girl. Calm down." Bonnie peeks over the edge of the couch and finds Mason splayed out among the cushions, a hand thrown over his face.

"You look hungover."

"I am hungover."

"It's barely 5…on a Thursday!"

"Uncle Mason is a go-getter." She hears Tyler cackle from the kitchen.

Bonnie offers to get him a drink and he gladly accepts. The entire time she's there, Mason is present. Not directly interacting, but lurking around in the background. The night ends with Bonnie once again declaring victory, she takes a quick snap of their faces and sends it to Kai:

 _-Ya girl just whupped that ass again!_

She's snickering to herself in her car when Mason appears next to her passenger side window. "Still gloating, B?"

"Hell yes! I don't think my run will last much longer, so I'm gonna enjoy it while I can. Are you leaving, do you want a ride?" She asks, not seeing his truck parked anywhere nearby. He gets in and immediately has to move his chair back for some extra leg room. "Damn, lil bit. I'm guessing Kai's never ridden shotgun?"

Bonnie stops to think, "Actually now that you mention it, no, he hasn't. How weird." Mason laughs at her bewilderment as she takes a right at the light to head to his place.

Bonnie is totally envious of Mason's loft, it's mostly an open space, but with a separate area for sleeping and the bathroom. Exposed brick, with huge floor to ceiling windows, it's what she would imagine a loft in Chicago or New York City to be like. He's a firefighter, but Bonnie knows it's because he's the mayor's brother that he can swing such fancy digs.

She continually swats at his hand the whole drive over, he keeps trying to turn it to some random country station. "Come on, Bon. Broaden your horizons."

"Stop it! I will crash this car, Mason. I'm serious." Bonnie threatens as she turns onto his street.

"Well that would suck for both of us…..seeing as I'm no longer a werewolf, and you're not a witch anymore."

Bonnie is so surprised that she jerks on the wheel and the car veers to the left. Luckily for them, the streets are mostly empty. She pulls into a parking spot and just sits there, wondering if she really heard what she thought she heard.

"Bon?" Mason's voice cuts through the buzzing in her ears. She hears him get out and sees him come around to her side, opening the door and kneeling on the ground. "I didn't mean to shock you, I thought you knew already, and just didn't say anything." He gently pries her hands off the steering wheel, "Okay, let's take this inside."

Once they're inside his spacious apartment, Bonnie starts pacing and firing off questions. "Have you known all along? Have you been here this whole time? Why mention it now?"

"No. Yes. And it seemed like a good time?" He answers sheepishly. She pauses to give him a 'be serious' look. He holds out his hands in apology. "Look, I really did think you already knew about me. It would make sense, right? I mean it was your family that offered me the chance."

"Explain." She plopped down on his couch while he tossed her a bottle of water and sat next to her. "I'm gonna guess you were in the same situation that I was in. My other self here had died…was dying and I was given the chance to take his place."

"Was he a firefighter too?"

"Yep, responding to a building fire." He sighed and leaned back against the couch, "From what I've been told, there was an issue with the safety harness, and he took a fall." He turns to look at Bonnie, "It's a trip, isn't it?"

She lets herself fall back to mirror his pose. "You can say that again." It's silent for a moment before Bonnie remembers something that's always weighed on her mind. "Mason? I'm sorry." He tilts his head in confusion. "What for?"

"For tricking you, and delivering you to Damon." He scoffs and waves her off, but Bonnie has always felt terrible for her part in his death. "No, I really am. I may not have yanked your heart out, but I certainly knew that leaving you there wouldn't be the best thing. I am so sorry for my role in that." She closed her eyes, "And for my role in your brother's death." She can feel his gaze on the side of her face.

Quickly she explains about the Gilbert device, and how her decision to not un-spell it caused Richard to go down just like the vampires, which was how he ended up in the cellar.

"I never even told Tyler. How cowardly is that?" She sniffed. Mason stretches an arm around her shoulders, "It's a little crappy, but not cowardly. You were a kid, Bonnie. None of you knew what the hell you were doing and your heart was in the right place, it sucks that my brother and I had to be casualties, but I like to think I came out ahead." He gives her a gentle squeeze.

"Tyler's dead." She admits quietly. She can feel Mason's arm stiffen. "What." Bonnie gives him an abbreviated rundown on what happened to his nephew in her old world. Mason is quiet, then jumps off the couch and heads to the punching bag he has in one corner of the room. He gives it a few impressive punches, all the while muttering 'fucking Salvatore' under his breath.

Bonnie's not sure if she should stay or go, she may not have had a hand in Tyler's death, but it wasn't like Damon suffered any repercussions for his actions either. Mason finally slows down the flurry of punches and kind of sags against the wall. He shoots her a sad smile, "Who knows, maybe he found a peaceful place of his own, just like us."

"He deserves it." Bonnie agrees. They spend the rest of the night telling their favorite Tyler stories and having a makeshift memorial in his honor.


	15. Saying Goodbye and Being Thankful

"So there I was, lending my assistance to this girl, who I thought was helpless, and then WHAM, I'm out cold." Mason bangs on the table for emphasis. "Next thing I know, I'm in chains that are doused in wolfs bane in the Salvatore living room."

Bonnie hides her face in her napkin, "I did apologize for that."

Kai was skeptical, "You mean to tell me that she took you out? She's like half your size!" He shook off Bonnie swatting his shoulder, "Hey!"

Mason snorted into his drink, "Man, you have no clue how strong witches are. It's not about size per se, it's about power, and Bonnie came from a powerful line. Witch royalty is the term I heard the most often."

"Oh yeah?" Kai fixes his gaze on Bonnie.

"That's why the majority of them never took their husbands names when they got married. Nobody would care about Bonnie Johnson, but Bonnie Bennett….that would be a whole new ball game. Even Kat was wise enough to try and stay on the Bennett's good side." Mason explained.

"I always thought it was weird when someone called you by your full name, you looked confused for a second." Kai said. "Then you'd get this look on your face, like 'oh they're talking to me'. I just chalked it up to your accident."

"Which is what I was hoping you'd do. The first few months, I was so anxious. I was scared to say anything to anybody, because I didn't know if my memories pre everything going to hell in my Mystic Falls would match what happened here." Bonnie admitted.

"I did the same thing too. That's how it caught my eye. When you thought no one was watching, you were a different person. But I wasn't absolutely sure until I saw how you handled this whole mess with Damon and Elena. I've been here for years, so I saw how the old you acted whenever his name was brought up. You didn't so much as blink." Mason explained.

After her discovery of Mason being another transplant, she told him that she had let her grams and Kai in on her secret. Mason hadn't planned on telling anyone, but since Kai already knew about Bonnie, he didn't see any harm in telling the other man about himself, under the condition that nobody else was to know. So she had sprung for lunch at her place so they could talk freely. Kai understandably had questions and Mason did his best to answer what he knew. He went over the whole werewolf lore that Bonnie had somehow missed, and explained how it was that he came to meet Vamp!Katherine and get involved with her.

By the end of the meal, he had filled in a few of the holes and answered a couple of questions that Bonnie had. Her recollection of that time was pretty spoty. What she remembered about that time was mostly spent on gaining power so she could defeat Klaus and protect Elena.

* * *

"I still can't believe he was a werewolf, I mean. What the actual hell?" Kai exclaimed in disbelief once Mason had left.

"You can believe I was a witch, but werewolves are out of the question?" Bonnie asks incredulously.

"I mean, I can see you being a witch. You and Sheila have always had this way about you, like you're both at ease with nature. I would try to time my visits to when you guys were working in the garden, that's when you would drop your guard the most."

"That was one part of being a witch that I really did come to love, the feel of the earth, and making things grow and flourish." Bonnie said wistfully, she missed that part of being a witch, being connected to the earth, feeling the energy of every living thing.

"Do you miss it?" Kai asked, pulling her onto his lap, he stroked his hand up and down her back soothingly. Bonnie took a minute to truly think about it. "I miss certain parts of it, I can do without the whole 'oh my god, we might die today' and the whole 'give and give until it literally kills you' parts." She tucked herself against Kai, "I feel like I was cheated a bit, though." She admits.

"How so?"

"I never really got to have fun with my magic. It was suppressed for so long, then when it came out, it was like I had to go from 0-100. I skipped over the smaller things that most witches learn to do at an early age." She explained.

"Like using magic to get out of chores, and stuff like that?" Kai guessed.

"Yeah, I never got to just play around with it, and to become really comfortable using until the end. I've always held a bit of resentment towards grams for that, hell to my dad and Abby too. They knew what kind of place Mystic Falls was, but I was still kept in the dark, and by the time I needed to step up, it was too late." Bonnie took a deep breath, she'd never told anyone that before, but the fact that her heritage was kept from her for so long always gnawed at her.

Maybe she would have been strong enough to help her grams with the tomb spell if she had been practicing all along.

"But oh well, doesn't matter now." She looked at the clock. "Weren't you heading out with Stefan and Nik?"

"I have a bit before I need to meet them, but back to what you were talking about." He turns her to face him head on, "You know it's totally valid for you to be pissed, right? There's nothing wrong with that, and they all failed you in some way."

"I know, it just feels like I'm bitching and being ungrateful. I mean, I have this new life, and it's awesome! So why am I still dwelling on what happened?" She shakes her head, "ugh I'm done being negative. What are you guys doing tonight?"

Kai regarded her silently, she could tell he was warring with pushing the issue or letting it go. She relaxed when he followed along with her change of subject. "Well, you didn't hear this from me, but Nik is planning on proposing-" He was cut off by Bonnie squealing in excitement.

"OH MY GOD, REALLY?!" She didn't mean to be that loud, but she was so happy for Caroline.

Kai chuckled, "Geez, calm down Bon. Yeah he wanted to ask Stefan if he could do it when we throw his going away party at the lake, and he wanted some help with the planning. We're still renting our own cabin right?" He got up to look for his keys.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, he always dropped them in a different spot, so it usually took him a while to locate them. She hadn't pegged Kai as being absent-minded, but on some things, he was so painfully human.

She loved every bit of it, though.

He finally found his keys and she walked him to the door. "Have fun with the boys tonight." She pressed him up against the door and nipped at his ear, "If you want to come over after, I can show you what I bought when Kat and I visited that lingerie store."

Kai gaped at her, then pulled out his phone, "They really don't need me for planning." She laughed and pushed him out the door.

* * *

The Friday night before heading out for Stefan's going away, Bonnie spent at the Parker house helping Kai and his dad do a bit of early prep for the weekend. They had discussed having everything catered, but decided against it in the end, wanting a more pot-luck feel to the party. While Kai and his father were handling most of the meats, Bonnie focused on some side options.

It was one of those rare times when all the Parker children happened to be there at one time. Jo and Liv had already been there when Bonnie and Kai arrived. Luke stopped by after dropping his boyfriend off at the airport, so Mr. Parker had decided to stay home and hang with his children.

Bonnie took a bathroom break and when she came back she stood in the shadows a bit, just watching them interact. Having not had much family herself, she was always interested in seeing family dynamics at work.

Mr. Parker played at being stern, but Bonnie (and everyone else) knew he was a big softie who cherished his children. Jo was technically the oldest by a few minutes, something that she loved to lord over Kai. Both sets of twins interacted with each other, but Bonnie had noticed that sometimes each set devolved into their own way of silently communicating.

Luke and Liv were textbook yin and yang. Where Liv could be loud and brash, Luke was calm and easygoing, they truly complimented each other. Watching them talk amongst themselves, Bonnie vowed to speak to her Grams about looking for Lucy, or any other relatives they may have left spread across the world.

Maybe she'd even look for Abby.

So lost in her own world, she didn't notice Jo making her way to her side.

"You know, I heard an interesting rumor." Jo leaned on the wall opposite Bonnie.

"Oh yeah?" Bonnie was only half-listening, still engrossed in watching the rest of the Parker family.

"Yeah, it seems someone saw you heading into Mason Lockwood's place the other night." Bonnie turned her head so fast she was sure she heard something crack. "They also made sure to mention that you were there for quite some time." Jo's face was made of stone, not giving anything away.

Bonnie turned so she was mirroring Jo's stance, "Someone has a lot of free time on their hands. Did this concerned citizen say anything else?" Bonnie knew she lived in a small town, but damn! She was so used to slipping under the radar that she honestly hadn't thought twice about going up to Mason's that night.

"Nope." Jo lifted one shoulder, "I'm sure she wanted to start shit." Her face broke then, blue eyes lighting up in laughter. "Should've told her nosy ass that I've been tapping that for a while." Bonnie felt her mouth drop open, Jo and Mason?

"What the….he never even hinted! Kai and I had lunch with him the other day, he hung out with us for hours!" She sputtered. Damn that man can keep a secret!

Jo snickered, "Oh, he probably got a kick out of that. No, it was my idea to keep it on the low, I'm not into people knowing all my business. Why do you think I live out of town? I was planning on telling people soon though, all the sneaking around is only sexy for so long."

"How long has this been going on, where did you two even meet?" Bonnie was intrigued. She didn't see the two of them regularly, and now that she came to think of it, had never even seen them together. Jo blushed, "A few months or so, everyone was so occupied with your whole fiasco, that it enabled us to fly under the radar, so thanks for that."

"Welcome. So glad my personal drama was good for something." Bonnie said dryly.

"You know what I mean" Jo waved her off, unknowingly repeating her little sisters action, "The clinic had a small fire and he was one of the responders. It started with just booty calls, but we decided to give a relationship a shot. It's been going good so far, even with our crazy hours."

"Well congrats. I assume you don't want me to tell Kai just yet?" Bonnie guessed.

"I'll tell him soon, besides, don't want him getting wind of the rumors and thinking something was going on."

Bonnie shook her head, "He wouldn't; he knows why I saw Mason that night. I don't keep things like that from him."

Jo rolled her eyes good naturedly, "Oh my god, you're one of those couples."

"If by "one of those couples" you mean we're open and honest, then yes we are" Bonnie grinned. "I feel like I can tell him anything, and I love him….THAT! I mean, I love that!" Bonnie tried to cover her blunder but it was too late, Jo's eyes had widened and she let out an embarrassingly loud squeal.

Bonnie tried to shush her, but it was too late, the other siblings had heard. She heard Kai call out to Jo, "Something you want to share with the rest of us, sissy?" Jo opened her mouth, and while Bonnie realistically knew Jo wouldn't tell Kai before she did, she wasn't thinking rationally at that moment. She threw herself at Jo, and the two fell to the floor and rolled about until they came to a stop right next to Mr. Parker's armchair. The man was totally unfazed by all the commotion. All he did was look up from his crossword puzzle, mutter something about needing to schedule a deep clean of the carpets, tell Jo she had lint in her hair, and let his eyes fall back to his puzzle.

Bonnie really, really liked Mr. Parker.

* * *

 _The way you move your hips  
When you're struttin' down the street  
Oh it makes a man so weak in the knees  
Lipstick on your lips  
When you say those words so sweet  
Oh have mercy darlin' I'm beggin' you please_

Bonnie and Kai sang along with Mayer Hawthorne on the drive down to the lake. Bonnie made sure to point out how many trees they passed and told him that she wanted to come back when the seasons were changing so they could see all the pretty colors.

"Yes ma'am, any other requests?" Kai asked cheekily. She stopped rubbing his neck and started to withdraw her hand. "Kidding! I'm just kidding, don't stop."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Bonnie resumed her actions. All was quiet, then: "You gonna tell me what you and Jo were wrestling about?"

"Nope."

"Oh come on! Please?" He attempted to give her puppy eyes, even though he was driving.

"Eyes on the road, please. I'm pretty sure I have no more lives left." Bonnie advised. "I promised Jo I wouldn't say anything, and I'm sticking to that."

"But I'm your favorite Parker!"

"You sure about that? I mean, nearly every time I see Luke, he's giving me a present-"

"That's his job! Well, one of them." Kai exclaimed.

"Doesn't matter, I'm always glad to see him." Bonnie argued.

"What? You're not always glad to see me?" He teased. Bonnie went quiet as she thought about her reaction to simply hearing Kai's name or seeing him after they've been apart for a while. Some part of her was always looking around the corner, waiting for him to show up.

In the beginning, she told herself it was because she needed to make sure he wasn't a threat. But once she determined that he bore no ill will towards her, she was still on watch for him, and gradually got used to his presence. So much so that it became odd for her to see the others and wonder where he was if he wasn't in attendance. She thought about what she had let slip to Jo, sometime when she wasn't paying attention, Kai Parker had made himself very comfortable in her heart.

"Bon?" His tone had turned concerned. She squeezed his neck while leaning over to place a kiss on his cheek.

"I am always glad to see you, never doubt that."

They were one of the last people to reach the lake, packing up the food had taken a little longer than planned. So when they finally arrived, neither were surprised to see Caroline in drill sergeant mode.

"It's about time! You were supposed to have been here an hour ago." She hurried to the back to start unloading the food. "The grills are ready to go, and we had no meat to put on them."

"Calm down, Forbes. We got a late start, but we're here." Bonnie winced. It was exactly the wrong thing to say to Caroline when she was like this.

"Late start? Look, I'm as happy as everyone that you two finally got your head out of your asses, but don't be that couple, please." Bonnie didn't need a witch's intuition to see the situation was quickly becoming unstable. She quickly took the food out of Caroline's hands and shoved them at Kai, "Here, start unloading, I'll diffuse Mt. Vesuvius."

She grabbed her friends hand and took them both along a path that went around the lake. "What is your deal, Care?" Bonnie watched as Caroline looked around before leaning in to hiss, "I think Nik is going to propose soon!"

"What? Wait, how do you know? And how soon is soon?" Bonnie started to panic, she really hoped Caroline wouldn't ruin the surprise for herself.

"You know how I have my wedding book right?" Bonnie nodded. Caroline in her world had one as well, it was full of clippings of dresses, ideas snatched from pinterest, and other sources. She went through it periodically to update it when she had a new idea or found something she really liked.

Caroline Forbes would leave nothing to chance.

"Well, because you and Kai are finally a couple, I went to get the book to update the seating chart, and I noticed it had been moved. So I opened it up and the ring pages had been messed with. I _know_ I had the solitaires before the princess cuts."

"Okay." Bonnie had no idea how to respond to that.

"That's not all! So, I turned to the venues tab, and the one of the pages was crinkled, like someone had put it back in a hurry." At this point Caroline was pacing furiously.

"Which page was it?" Bonnie asked curiously.

"The ballroom in Falls Church."

"Oh, that's a good one."

"Right?! So, I mean it makes sense right? Has he said anything to you?" She stopped in front of Bonnie.

"Nope, he hasn't said a word to me." She said honestly, thanking every deity that Nik hadn't asked her for help. "When do you think he's gonna do it?"

"Well, I know he asked my mom if she had anything planned for the week after next. I'm thinking he'll do it then, but I can't wait until then. I need to know now!"

Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief, Nik had done a great job in throwing just enough clues to get her interested, but not enough to give away the surprise.

"Week after next, isn't that the-"

"The Founder's Ball? Yes it is. I am freaking out! You have to find out for sure if that's when he's doing it." She clutched Bonnie's arm.

"Why can't you just let it happen?" Bonnie tried to reason with her friend.

"Are you kidding? This is only going to happen once, and I want it to be perfect! Granted I'd say yes regardless, but the whole town will be there, Bonnie. I'll need to look like I have no clue what's going on, as well as appropriately surprised, but also killer for pictures. This moment will be immortalized in time, something to show our kids and grand-kids. Think of my grand-babies, Bonnie."

"What are you even-"

"Hey! You finally made it!" Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Lexi. Caroline made a zipping motion across her lips, smiled too widely at Lexi and took off towards the main house.

"Did I interrupt something?"

Bonnie sighed wearily, "No, that's just Caroline." She took a minute to hug the other girl and they slowly made their way back to everyone. Bonnie introduced her to Kai and while his back was turned she mouthed the word 'Greece' with a thumbs up. Bonnie disguised her laughter as a cough.

Bonnie was surprised to see Jeremy and Kol there along with everyone else, they were on the lake making good use of the toys that the Mikealson's kept in storage. Kai went to join them, hopping on a jet-ski and immediately challenging Stefan to a race.

Bonnie snagged a raft and went to join Katherine and Rebekah as they floated nearby. Caroline and Liv declined, both blondes claiming the sun was too strong. However, Bonnie was sure Caroline wanted to snoop through Nik's things, and Liv was all too willing to go along.

"They won't find it." Kat whispered in her ear. Bonnie raised an eyebrow in question. "He gave it to me to hold." Bonnie laughed out loud, Nik was purposefully driving Caroline crazy, and had everyone in on it.

"Smart man."

The girls chatted amongst themselves and for the first time in a long time, Bonnie felt herself relax. There was no new big bad, no danger around the corner (unless you counted Caroline going on a rampage) just a bunch of friends having a goodbye barbecue. She was in love with someone who truly loved her back, life was good.

Hours later, after copious amounts of food had been eaten, and alcohol had been drunk, Bonnie found herself alone with Stefan.

"What do you think of your going away?"

"I think I should go away more often, this was awesome!" He was clearly tipsy. Bonnie's phone chimed, but she didn't even bother to answer it. She knew it would be Caroline asking if she'd found out anything.

"You know, I'm proud of you." She turned her attention back to Stefan who was gazing out at the lake. "You picked yourself up and built a whole new life." He looked down, "I was the coward that left."

"Stefan, no."

"No, I left and you stayed. You saw them _every day_ , and you even dealt with a miscarriage on top of all of that. That could not have been easy, I am so in awe of you." He turned to look at her. "And you were brave enough to give it a try all over again. I'm so glad you and Kai found your way to each other, you both make each other so happy, and I want that. I want to find someone that makes me that happy again."

"You will, you absolutely will." She winds her arms around his middle and squeezes tightly. "You are too wonderful for anyone to not see it. Matter of fact, I'm sure you've left tons of girls, and some guys, heartbroken because you weren't ready to try again." She feels him chuckle, "I think you're ready now, you've dealt with your ghosts and put them to rest. You are absolutely ready." He wraps his arms around her shoulders and they hold on to each other, just listening to the sounds of the night.

Bonnie feels the words bubbling up, begging to be released. Can she really let him go on thinking that he was talking to the same girl as before?

"Stefan, I-"

"Hey guys, it's show time." Kai's voice cuts in, and for a second Bonnie doesn't know whether to be dismayed or grateful. She settles on grateful, and squeezes Stefan once more before letting go. "Come on, lets get this over with so this crazy chick can stop texting me."

"Everything okay?" Kai softly asks as they make their way back to the group.

"Everything's good." She replies.

And it is, Bonnie realizes as she watches Nik get down on one knee to a genuinely surprised Caroline. She's yelling that she doesn't have on the right clothes and that she probably smells like the lake, and 'oh my god, you all knew didn't you?' Bonnie keeps right on filming, calling out for Caroline to keep it PG and to "think of the grand-babies!" That earns her a middle finger and a barrage of expletives that she's absolutely going to save for Caroline's kids…..and grand-kids to see.

Much later, after they've retired to their respective cabins, and after Bonnie finally gets the chance to break out some of the lingerie that she and Kat bought what seems like eons ago, she feels the need to lay everything bare.

"I love you." It's whispered in the dark, and for a second Bonnie thinks Kai has already fallen asleep.

"I love you back, Bonnie Sheila Bennett." He tightens his arms around her and she feels his limbs grow heavier with sleep. She silently says a prayer of thanks to her ancestors for giving her this second (third? fourth? whatever) chance at life before she follows Kai into dreamland.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap! All that's left is a quick epilogue, the main story will be done. I've always intended for this to be one of those universes where I can come back and write a one shot or a quick add-on. For instance, I've got some thing brewing for Halloween, and maybe Christmas. I may even play with changing POV's, cause I think Stefan has a lot to deal with still.

I also promised makeashadow that I'd write about Kai's first time visiting Bonnie's 'secret garden'.

Thank you to everyone who read this, a HUGE thank you to everyone that left a review, even if it was just 'nice'. It kept me going and I am so damn appreciative. This is the longest thing I've ever written and I felt so self conscious every step of the way, but all the reviews, likes, and kudos really spurred me on.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!


	16. Last Words

Bonnie grabbed the bouquet of flowers and took a deep breath as she exited the car.

It was the one year anniversary of other Bonnie's car accident. She wanted to do something to mark the occasion, since (in her mind at least) that was when this worlds Bonnie ceased to exist. Kai and Grams had offered to come with her, but she felt that this was something she needed to do by herself.

She placed the flowers against the tree that still showed signs of damage. The day was bright and sunny, nothing like the rainy and moonless night that the accident happened.

"Hi. I don't know if you can hear me, or if you've already moved on and found your peace, but I just want you to know that I'm making the most of your….my….our life. I got us a new job, which is awesome, I love it so much. I've completely severed us from Damon and Elena. I know it may not have been what you wanted but trust me, they were no good for us, at least how they are now. Maybe someday down the road when they grow up a bit, but for right now, I'm good."

Bonnie paused to shift into a more comfortable position, she'd have to remember to bring a blanket or something to sit on next year.

"I've been hanging out with Dad more, he's making an actual effort to stay in the area more. I think he really feels guilty about being away so often, or it could be because he and Mr. Parker are becoming best buddies." She chuckles softly to herself. "Yeah, it's weird, I know. I don't fight it, I just ease on out the room when they start acting up.

Speaking of dad, I convinced Grams to open up the lines of communication with the rest of the family, well what's left of it, and we got in touch with Lucy! She lives down in New Orleans, and sounds like she was glad to hear from us. We're trying to figure out a time for all of us to meet up. I'm also working with Grams on trying to find mom. I have to know one way or the other what's happened to her in this world. Who knows? Maybe we can actually have some semblance of a relationship in this world.

Caroline is engaged, I'm sure you probably heard the squeal all the way up in Heaven, and yes, she's already getting on everyone's nerves. Sheriff Forbes threatened to show up in her uniform if Caroline doesn't tone down the crazy. I'm pretty sure Rebekah and Matt will be next, I've caught her going through Caroline's wedding book one too many times."

She looks down at her fingers, "I've even fallen in love. And it's been nothing like I've ever experienced before. Kai is….." Bonnie trails off as she searches for the right words. "He's someone that I never knew I needed in my life, but I am so glad he's in it. I know for you, Damon was it, but I gotta tell ya, I really think I ended up with the better choice." She's aware that she's boasting at this point. "Because he loves me, he really loves me. I told him who I really was and not only did he believe me, but he still wanted to be with me. You know we haven't had the best track record of people staying when they said they would."

Bonnie's phone buzzes and she sees Kai's name flash across the screen.

"Okay, that's enough for now. I just wanted to let you know that you haven't been forgotten. I hope that wherever you are, you're finally happy. You deserve to be happy."

As she rises from her position, she feels a breeze blow by, rustling the leaves on the ground and making the ends of her hair dance. She's going to take that as confirmation that she was heard, and her other self is finally at peace.

* * *

A/N: And that's all she wrote, folks! I will be dropping in every now and then with added stories, one shots, that sort of thing. I'm working with the lovely **StudioEden** (sidenote: if you have not read The Reset, go do it now!) on a prequel of sorts. Thank you once again to everyone that read my little story!


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